Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Aiba Takumi, Detective of Fate

by Denthasus

A novelization of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. During his first trip into the virtual cyberspace EDEN, Aiba Takumi encounters danger in the form of hacking and strange creatures. In the midst of helping his friends escape, he winds up in an accident that somehow leads him to the Kuremi Detective Agency, office of the ever mysterious cyber detective Kuremi Kyoko.

30. From the New World

Author's Notes: So I ended up splitting this chapter into two parts so the epilogue stuff will be posted tomorrow. I did alter the epilogue quite a bit though because... I don't think the game's actual ending fit the story. Anyway, we're almost to the end.

---

"Ready to go?" Kyoko asked as she closed the blinds to the agency.

"Yeah," Takumi nodded as he finished packing away his supplies into his belt pouches. "I'm ready." He paused for a moment and looked around the office once more. "Um… but before we go… I just wanted to say thanks…"

"Hmm?" the woman stared at him.

"Thank you for everything, Kyoko-san," the boy repeated himself as he looked up at her. "I'm glad to have met you and become your assistant. It's because of your belief in me that I was able to evolve into who I am now." He clenched his fists. "No matter what happens, I promise I won't ever forget that we're always connected. I don't know whether it's through fate or luck or what, but we are connected," he nodded.

Kyoko smiled as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I couldn't have asked for a better assistant than you," she told him with a nod. Takumi happily smiled at her as he readjusted the goggles on his head.

He turned towards the exit to prepare to leave, but he paused for a moment. "Kyoko-san… I have one more request… Can we have one last cup of coffee together before we go?"

The Digimon in the woman's body chuckled. "Of course, my dear Watson," she nodded as she reheated her last batch. She poured out two cups and handed one to Takumi. "With this, it's time to see this journey through to the very end."

Takumi grimaced but he managed to stomach the strange mixture of seaweed, yogurt, Tabasco, cream cheese, and tapioca. He grinned to the detective as he finished. "Let's do this," the Cyber Sleuth stated with a nod.

---

Yuuko's face brightened when she finally saw Takumi and Alphamon arrive. "They're here," she stated with a nod.

"About time," Arata smirked with his arms crossed.

"You're late!" Nokia frowned at the red-haired boy. "You're always late!"

"Sorry, but there were a few last minute things at the agency we had to take care of," Takumi chuckled.

Alphamon nodded in agreement. "It seems we're all here." Everyone gathered around the magic circle that would lead them straight into the Digital World and the black Royal Knight glanced at the team's members. "Suedou has his own goals," she reminded them, "and I'm certain he's using us to achieve them."

"Still, at the same time, we're using Suedou-san to rescue my brother," Yuuko nodded.

"Hmm… 'To create a new world'…" Omegamon pondered what that could mean. "That is his objective."

"To erase all sadness from all worlds," Arata crossed his arms and frowned. "Everything he's done has been to achieve that. Everything he'll go on to do as well."

"But that…" Nokia frowned, "that's not really possible, is it?"

Takumi lowered his gaze. "It is… but it's something we shouldn't worry about too much for now."

Alphamon nodded in agreement. "Whatever his aims, it doesn't change ours. He may desire the creation of a new world… but we're going to the stop the destruction of the old one."

"That's right," Takumi nodded alongside his three friends.

"Good," the legendary Royal Knight smiled at their resolve. "Now then, let us do what must be done."

"Understood," her assistant stated.

Nokia grinned at her best friend. "Anytime you wanna head out, I am ready!" Soon, she frowned at all of her friends. "This is important! Have you got your tissues? Teeth brushed? Gone to the bathroom? You don't wanna have to go in the heat of the moment!"

"Jeez," Arata frowned at her. "If anyone needs to be reminded to do all that, it'd be you."

"Hey, Arata, why don't you say that to my face, you geek?" Nokia glared at him.

"I just did, didn't I?"

"Now, now," Takumi tried to step in between them with a crooked smile. "Let's focus on the task at hand."

Yuuko chuckled at her friends' squabbling. "All this time, I've been trying to do something about EDEN on my own," she frowned to herself. "But each time I tried, my methods were off…" She looked up at her friends with a determined smile. "But this time… everything's just right."

"It's because everyone is here together," Takumi nodded.

Arata smirked in agreement as he stared up at the clouds in anticipation. "Finally, we're almost there. It's been a helluva roundabout route, but it was worth it. Let's go," he nodded. "We'll meet again after… all of us are together," he clenched his fists.

The three of them looked towards Takumi who took the lead. "It's been eight years since we last saw the Digital World… We've come a long way since then. We've grown and changed for the better. In other words, we've all evolved. Now, it's time for us to evolve even further by correcting our past mistakes… together." The Cyber Sleuth turned to look at his friends and watched as they all gave him a determined nod. Takumi smiled at them, knowing they all had each other's backs. "Let's go," he stated, "Into the Digital World!"

---

Takumi didn't know what he had been expecting when he opened his eyes, but the lush green jungle of the Digital World was now a drab, monochrome field of dying trees and Eaters. Nokia was even more surprised as she looked around in fear and sadness. "This… is the Digital World?" she asked.

"This is horrible…" Yuuko shook her head in disbelief.

"Compared to how it should be, yeah…" Takumi nodded.

"And our world is going to end up like this too?" Arata knit his eyebrows together.

"We won't let it," Takumi stated as he stepped forward to get a better look around.

Arata crossed his arms. "Where's Suedou?"

"Let's keep moving," Yuuko suggested as she and Takumi took point.

"Yuuko, wait!" The Cyber Sleuth tensed up as a strange creature appeared before them. It wasn't registering as a Digimon but it certainly did feel like one. The boy frowned as he noticed a strange vine-like cable extending from the white machine. "Is this a part of the security system Suedou was talking about before?" He winced as a headache came to him when the thing began speaking in the garbled language he somehow understood.

"Monkogu na eraa ga hatsusei. Kensagu hatsuken tadachi ni haijyo suru."

"Wh-what's that sound?" Nokia frowned.

"It thinks we're errors," Takumi strained himself to translate what he could understand. "I think… it wants to eliminate us!"

"Everyone, stay alert!" Yuuko called out as she quickly pulled Takumi back to safety.

Alphamon protectively stood in front of her assistant. "This is Yggdrasil_7D6, a genuine Yggdrasil terminal."

"Yggdrasil sees us as foreign objects," Omegamon frowned. "He's been totally worn away by Eaters!"

"Yggdrasil no longer possesses any will," Alphamon shook her head. "I can't hear his voice, either. Before us is a wall that blocks our progress. It's nothing but a mere program."

"Hmph!" Nokia smirked. "If it's… just a wall…!"

"We just have to break through it," Yuuko nodded, "right?"

"Right!" Takumi rushed forward but Arata pulled him back.

"I'll do it," the older boy stated. "Consider it part of my rehabilitation!" He quickly called Diablomon to his side.

"Whoa, very buff!" Nokia stared at the new Digimon in awe. "When'd you get so strong, Arata?"

"Heh!" the veteran hacker smirked as he raised an eyebrow at her. "Who do you think you're dealing with?"

"Way to go," Yuuko smirked at him. "Even when he's not in top form, he's still legendary. I've got to hand it to the original leader of Jude. To have gotten a Digimon that can rival mine in such a short span of time… You're a real hardcore nerd. And something of a sore loser." She shook her head at the older boy. "To be blunt, I'm a little bit turned off."

Arata frowned at her. "Hey! Don't call me a nerd! I'm a geek!" He shook his head and looked over at the former Zaxon leader. "And Yuuko, what about you? Your personality hasn't changed?"

Alphamon sighed at the teenagers. "You all were the possibility I believed in," she shook her head. "You need more self-awareness in that regard."

Takumi nodded in agreement. "We have to focus on our goal here," he seriously stated as he studied Yggdrasil_7D6. He winced when the terminal began speaking again.

"Haijyo. Haijyo. Haijyo. Haijyo…"

"Here it comes!" Omegamon warned.

"Takumi, stay back for now," Alphamon sternly told her assistant.

The boy was about to argue with her but decided against it when his vision blurred a little. "A-alright, Alphamon," he nodded. "Arata! Go for it!"

"Diablomon!" Arata called out to his partner.

"Catastrophe Cannon!" the Unknown Digimon's green sphere in his chest glowed before rapidly firing out shots at Yggdrasil_7D6.

The white robotic being didn't falter as it summoned a large crystal and cast it towards the Digimon. "Kyodai na Kurisutaru!"

Diablomon smashed through the projectile by rolling towards it and slicing through the crystal with the blades on his back. "Page Fault!"

Takumi watched the battle restlessly as the two fighters exchanged blows until he refocused his attention on the terminal's cable. "Arata! Try severing that cable underneath it!"

Arata frowned as he tried to figure out what the boy was referring to before his dark blue eyes widened. "Diablomon! Cable Crusher!" Diablomon responded by stretching his arms towards the vine. His large claws slashed at it once before it cleanly severed the line. Soon Yggdrasil_7D6 collapsed to the ground. "Ready as ordered, I guess," the raven-haired teen smirked.

Yuuko gasped as something caught her eye. "Everybody, look up at the sky!"

Takumi lifted his gaze and stared at the mass of Eaters flying in a strange formation. They were all headed in the same direction so he curiously turned to see what could be lying at their destination.

"Whoa, what?" Nokia frowned. "Are those all Eaters!?"

"It's like they're heading somewhere…" Yuuko studied them. "No, being forced to gather."

"Suedou is leading them," Arata guessed. "And so that's where Yggdrasil's main unit must be."

"Okay, let's go!" Nokia called out with a nod.

Takumi stayed behind to study the Digital World a bit more as the others started without them. He finally did follow them but paused as his entire burned with pain and began to flicker. He bit back his urge to yell out and got down to a knee before taking a moment to recover. He carefully checked his friends ahead of them but let out a relieved sigh when nobody noticed a thing. He forced himself back up and quickly caught up with them, without saying a word.

After a bit of walking, they found a massive hole before them. "Is that the entrance?" Nokia asked as she crossed her arms. "Well, I don't know if I'd call it much of an entrance," she noted.

Omegamon carefully scanned it. "It's a hole worn away by the Eaters that goes all the way down to the core," he concluded.

"Then Yggdrasil himself will be down there," Yuuko guessed.

"But now it's a den of Eaters," Arata pointed out, "and what Suedou called the Mother Eater is there."

Yuuko nodded but gasped when she spotted Yuugo's ghost staring at them. Nokia knit her eyebrows together as she tried to speak. "So that…"

They stared at Yuugo in confusion as he began speaking in the same garbled language Yggdrasil_7D6 spoke. Takumi strained to hear the memory fragment's words as he felt his senses dull. "Koko ni iru yo."

"This is it…" Takumi gasped.

"Yuugo is calling to us," Arata stated.

"Yeah," Nokia nodded as they were getting close. "He's been waiting for us this whole time."

Yuuko smiled. "I'll be with my brother soon."

Takumi managed to get his breathing to become level again and nodded. "Just a little further…"

"All right," Arata looked at the three younger teens. "Let's go rescue our friend."

"This time for sure…" Nokia nodded.

"We're all coming home together!" Yuuko exclaimed.

"That's right!" Takumi nodded and did his best to fight against the searing pain he was experiencing. He let out a shout as he was the first to jump into the hole. "Let's go!"

With his friends behind him, the boy looked around the spiraling staircase that descended to the strange Eater form in the center of the hole. Yuuko's eyes widened at the sight of it. "Th-that's… the Mother Eater?"

"Whoa… It… It's huge!" Arata exclaimed.

"How can this be?" Omegamon asked. "Yggdrasil himself has been completely overtaken and has been fully corrupted!"

Suedou's voice suddenly spoke to them. "I'm just barely able to hold him back." Everyone turned towards the scientist typing at his terminal. "As expected, the original functions of Yggdrasil are being almost entirely suppressed. All the Eaters we sent back have incorporated programs that just send out junk data over and over. Even Yggdrasil's calculation functions have hit a temporary buffer overflow as a result."

Yuuko, Arata, and Takumi spoke at once.

"Like a Trojan horse," the oldest stated.

"Like a virus vector," the girl nodded.

"Like the Russian folktale of the Giant Turnip!" the redhead grinned. Both raven-haired hackers glared at each other before blinking at Takumi in confusion. The bright-eyed boy only smiled at them and tilted his head to the side. "What? Is there something wrong with my analogy?"

Suedou smirked at the pair of hacking legends and deceptively ingenious Cyber Sleuth. "Neither description is technically mistaken. But Takumi is the most correct."

Both legendary hackers' eyes widened at their seemingly idiotic friend. Arata was the first to look away from the boy as he grumbled to himself. "Tch… We really can't underestimate this guy…"

Yuuko smiled at Takumi. "As expected… you defied my expectations of you yet again."

"You know that's an oxymoron…" Takumi pointed out to her.

"Anyway," Suedou shook his head at them, "we need to debug Yggdrasil and soon." He extended his arm to the path ahead, wanting the children with Digimon to take the lead. "Let's head for the Mother Eater. Yuugo has been waiting for some time."

Takumi nodded as he ran ahead of them but he tensed up as he felt another terminal nearby. He dodged a large crystal before Alphamon quickly charged forward to save him. "Holy Sword Gradalpha!" The black Royal Knight quickly severed the terminal's cable without a thought before charging ahead of her assistant. "I know you're eager to continue but I told you to stay back!"

"Just leave this to us!" Yuuko agreed as she sent Gaioumon forward to take down another terminal.

"Phosphorous Fire Slash!"

Nokia nodded to him. "This time we'll protect you!" She trembled as she faced the final terminal awaiting them. "I-I'm not s-scared!" she cried as Omegamon charged his Garuru Cannon.

The white Royal Knight fired his weapon with a roar before revealing his blade. "Grey Sword!"

"You guys…" Takumi smiled at his friends as they continued to lead the way. "Alright!" He stopped before the colossal humanoid Eater form looming over them. "Now the rest is up to me…" he clenched his fists.

"What do you think, Takumi?" Arata asked. "Can you make it?"

The Cyber Sleuth held out his right hand but frowned as none of the Digital Waves allowed him to access the Mother Eater. He shook his head as he continued to search for a way to Connect Jump. "Come on…"

"I think it's impossible as things are now," Yuuko stated, lowering her gaze.

Alphamon studied the Mother Eater carefully. "Activity is being suppressed by a large number of Eaters. Movement seems to be greatly restricted. Their fighting strength is an unknown quantity. But 'unknown' means we compare favorably for now."

The four teens paused at that before grinning at each other. Arata coolly slipped his hands into his pockets. Nokia crossed her arms. Yuuko brought her arms up in determination. Takumi placed his hips and nodded. The Mother Eater groaned before gazing down at them.

Arata glared up at the beast. "That said, it looks like it's ready for us!"

"Then let's attack!" Nokia grinned.

"Be careful not to hurt my brother!" Yuuko stated.

"We absolutely won't lose!" Takumi cried as he sent his entire team forward. "Let's go, everyone!" He roared as his Digimon attacked without reserve. "Xros Combo!"

"Giant Missile!" SaintGalgomon launched both of his missiles from his shoulders.

Mugendramon's eyes lit up as he roared. "Mugen Cannon!"

Darkdramon aimed his Gigastick Lance at the Mother Eater. "Dark Roar!"

"Gaia Force!" BlackWarGreymon hurled the condensed fireball he charged from the atmosphere's energy.

MetalGarurumon (Black) howled as his chest plate opened. "Garuru Tomahawk!"

"Destroyed Crash!" GrandLocomon fired his segmented spiked wheel.

"Infinity Arrow!" SaberLeomon roared as he shot the sharp hairs from his main.

ChaosDukemon's shield glowed as he channeled the gathered energy into his Balmung. "Chaos Shot!"

"Prickle Storm!" Rosemon fired a green energy shot.

"Atomic Ray!" HiAndromon's regulatory turbines combined their energies to shoot a beam.

Standing behind Takumi, Alphamon smirked as she held up her right hand. "Digitalize of Soul!" She watched as the Mother Eater toppled over in ease, but frowned as the battle went too smoothly.

Takumi must have noticed too because the boy knit his eyebrows together as he studied their downed opponent. He was distracted when his friends grinned at his strength though. "How's this, Takumi?" Nokia asked.

The blue-eyed boy nodded. "This will do."

"I'll leave the task of saving Yuugo to you," Arata told him.

"Please rescue my brother, Takumi!" Yuuko smiled at him.

"Please save our good friend!" Nokia cried out.

"Understood!" the Cyber Sleuth gave them a determined nod before raising his right hand to the Mother Eater. He slightly winced as his body began to flicker.

"Huh!?" Nokia's eyes widened in surprise. She frowned in worry alongside Arata and Yuuko.

"Hey, Takumi!?" Arata tried to reach out to the younger boy, but it was too late as Takumi already disappeared.

Takumi winced as the pain intensified. He ignored it though as he spotted Yuugo's ghostly memory fragments calling out to him. "This way!"

"Yuugo!" Takumi went after the raven-haired ghost.

"I've missed you," the ghost sadly frowned at him. "I've been so lonely. You came for me," he smiled at Takumi. "I'm so happy, happy, happy! Hurry up! I want to see you all."

"Yuugo…?" Takumi sensed something was wrong with this version of his role model. He winced as he heard someone else call out to him in the deepest recesses of his mind.

"No…" a boy's sorrowful voice spoke.

"Yuugo!" Takumi went further into the network when he sensed the older boy's presence.

"I was looking for everyone," the ghost sighed to himself, "Looking this whole time. I finally found you. I don't want to be by myself anymore. I want to go home, go home, go home…"

The redhead found it was getting more difficult to breathe and it wasn't just because of the physical pain he felt. "T-these thoughts… S-some of them used to belong to…"

"No! That's not it!" the sad voice called out to him again.

Takumi forced himself to continue onward and the ghostly boy frowned at him. "Why did you run away and leave me? Did you not like me?" he asked. "Is that why I'm trapped here?"

"Yuugo…" Takumi felt himself want to cry. "I-I'm… sorry… I didn't mean to…"

"Don't listen to that voice!" the voice sternly called out.

"I hate you all!" the ghostly glared at Takumi. "All of you, just go away! All of you… Just die!"

"D-die…?" the Cyber Sleuth knit his eyebrows together as it didn't seem like a bad idea, given the amount of guilt he felt crushing him.

"Don't listen to 'my' voice…!" the voice tried to reach out to Takumi.

"Somebody find me!" the ghost cried out. "Somebody help me!"

Takumi screamed as the conflicting voices confused him. "Yuugo!"

"Help, help, help, help!" the ghostly boy continued to shout.

"Y-yuu…go…" the Cyber Sleuth forced his body to continue and tried to reach out at the raven-haired boy standing alone with his eyes closed. "Yuu..go!"

Yuugo suddenly opened his eyes. "You mustn't come here!" he warned Takumi, but it was too late.

"Eh!?" Takumi quickly pulled Yuugo and himself out of the Mother Eater and they toppled out onto the ground.

"T-takumi…" Yuugo gasped as he landed on his hands and knees. He looked up at the boy who saved him but noticed Takumi was down on one knee, trying to contain his pain.

Takumi cried out in agony as he placed a hand over his heart and grabbed at his own shirt. His burning chest felt as though it wanted to tear itself apart. "Ngah!"

"Takumi!" Nokia tried to call out to him.

"Yuu…go?" Arata exclaimed in surprise.

"Onii-chan!" Yuuko worriedly ran to them both with the other two behind her.

Yuugo slowly got up and looked at them. "Arata… Yuuko… and Nokia, too," he worriedly frowned at them.

"We did it!" Nokia cheered. "It's really Yuugo-kun! For real!"

"Hey, Yuugo," Arata tried to coolly his best friend as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "Long time no see."

"Onii-chan," Yuuko cried as she couldn't believe her brother was really here in front of her after so long. "I'm so glad. I-I'm so, so glad!"

Yuugo shook his head as now wasn't the time for celebration. "Listen to me, guys. If we don't do something…" He clenched his fists in determination as he helped Takumi up. "If we don't do something, the world as we know it will be utterly consumed by the Eaters!"

"What do you mean by that?" Omegamon asked.

"I was fully absorbed, imprisoned by them, and I became a part of their shared data network," Yuugo explained. "One of my roles was to suppress their activity."

"Suppress their activity?" Yuuko asked.

"Yes," he nodded, "I tried to keep their rate of erosion down. They have nothing we would call 'awareness'. They store and share data and by influencing each other are building a single unified consciousness. Each individual Eater acts as a single part of one group consciousness."

Alphamon nodded as she was beginning to understand Yuugo's role in being a part of that network. "And using that unified consciousness network, you were able to appear here and there in cyberspace. That's how you showed yourself before Takumi and the others."

"By using the Eaters as a terminal, yes," Yuugo nodded, "But I wasn't authorized to send my thoughts. All I could do was send fragments of my memories as data, over and over again. I had plenty of limitations, but in the end, it all managed to work out. The mental data of the humans incorporated by the Eaters is stored within the network. All of it," he stated, looking over towards the panting redhead he was holding up.

"Whoa…" Arata's eyes widened as he stared at two boys. "Then that means…"

"If Yuugo-kun isn't part of the network anymore…" Nokia frowned.

"The erosion speed will increase without limit," Yuuko worriedly stated. "And we might lose all the stored mental data."

Takumi groaned as it looked like he messed up again. "S-sorry… Yuugo… All I ever do… is cause you problems…" He let out another pained cry as he forced himself to stand without Yuugo's help. "I-I'll… fix this… N-no… problem…" he gasped as he faced the Mother Eater again. "I won't… let us lose everything now! Not after we've come so far!"

"Even so," a man spoke from behind him, "that's a condition for evolution! It's necessary for the creation of a new world!" Everyone turned as Suedou finally caught up to them. He walked past the teenagers and stood right in front of the fallen Mother Eater. "The loss of even the smallest world, the birth of even the smallest grief, cannot be allowed!" he declared. "I will bring order to this new world." He turned towards the boy who had been trapped within the foreign network for so long. "Yuugo-kun," Suedou sympathetically frowned, "you have suffered and grieved enough. You must be released from those shackles."

Yuugo gasped at the man's words and watched as Takumi took a step towards the scientist. "Suedou-san!" the redhead frowned at him.

"Thank you, Takumi," Suedou nodded to the young Cyber Sleuth, for rescuing him. "Only you, with your skills, could have done it. You are a miracle of the old world!"

The blue-eyed boy lowered his gaze and frowned at himself as he felt as though he just made things worse. "A miracle…? Me…?"

The man nodded at the teen as his smile grew. "However, do not allow yourself to be surprised!" he stated. "In the new world, miracles like that will be commonplace!" Suedou turned his back on them and continued approaching the Mother Eater.

"Suedou," Arata glared at him, "what are you up to?"

"I will take Yuugo-kun's place in the group consciousness," he answered.

Yuugo stared at him in surprise as his best friend seemed at a loss too. "Huh!?"

"What I mean is," Suedou smirked, "I will become the Eaters' consciousness myself! Their sole driving will! And… With Yggdrasil's omnipotent calculations and the Eaters' high-dimen—no, ultradimensional data transmission functionality!" his eyes glowed, "My will shall use these things to bring forth a new world!" Before anyone else could call out for him to stop, Suedou walked straight into the Eater and incorporated himself into the fearsome creature.

"Suedou-san!" Takumi cried out as around him the Digital Waves became even more unstable. The nausea that hit him was crippling but he forced himself to watch as the Mother Eater rose up. The boy's blue eyes widened when the creature began to expand as it evolved into a more powerful form. He flinched as the Mother Eater flapped its new shining wings and flexed its four monstrous arms.

"Whoa, this ain't good!" Nokia exclaimed as she stared at it in fear.

"Well, just listen to you!" Arata smirked as he slipped his hands into his pockets.

"Takumi!" Yuuko urgently turned to the Cyber Sleuth. "Can you pull Suedou back from the brink?"

"Oh, I see!" Nokia grinned as she looked over at the other redhead. "Way to go, Yuuko-chi! Good thinking. Good thinking, and to the point too."

"Well, of course I can," Takumi nodded as took an unsteady step forward. He grit his teeth and tried to lift his right arm up. He tensed up though as his breathing hitched.

"You should quit now while you can," Suedou spoke to him from within the Mother Eater body.

"Ngh!" Takumi collapsed to a knee and frowned at himself. His body flickered again as he tried to catch his breath.

"Takumi!?" Nokia worriedly gasped.

"N-no w-worries…!" Takumi tried to reassure his friends behind him. He didn't have to turn around to know they were all staring at him in concern. "I-I… I can still…!" he winced as his chest stung.

"Your half-cyber body is unstable," Suedou told the stubborn teen, "and has deteriorated from repeated Eater contact. The earlier Connect Jump to Yuugo exposed you to serious damage, I believe. You knew the consequences yet still did so anyways…"

"That can't be," Yuuko frowned at her reckless friend. "Takumi…"

"I-I'm fine…!" Takumi gasped as he tried to reassure her that he could still succeed. He grunted as he willed his body to get back up. "I… c-can… d-definitely… C-connect Jump… again…!" he stated in determination.

"The next contact will be all it takes to bug your comprising data, destroy it, and erase it," Suedou warned him.

Knowing the man was right, Takumi fell back down. "Ngh…!"

Alphamon narrowed her gaze on the Mother Eater. "That was all part of the plan."

"Tch!" Arata glared at the black and white monster. "This is why we can't trust adults!" He called out to Takumi who was still trying to get up. "Stop, Takumi! Don't risk it!"

"That's right!" Nokia cried. "If we lose you, another big traumatic event will occur! Right?" She frowned as she didn't want to lose another friend. "We… we wouldn't be able to recover from that…" She shook her head as she continued to berate Takumi. "And besides, we promised we'd all come home together, the five of us! Do you hear me, jerkface!?"

"Yes, exactly," Yuuko nodded. "Nokia-san's right." She brought her hand up to her mouth as she worriedly frowned at the panting teenager. "Without the five of us, the mission is a failure." She glared at Takumi as she hoped he understood their collective desire to keep him safe. "I hate failure. I can't deal with it. So please, don't do this, Takumi."

Takumi knit his eyebrows together as he understood, but he couldn't just allow Suedou remain in the Mother Eater. "What should I…?" He closed his eyes and scrunched up his face as he struggled to choose between his desires to fix everything he caused or return to his friends. He grabbed his aching head and screamed in frustration over what to do.

"Takumi!" Yuuko and Nokia cried out to him.

Arata nervously backed away from the girls. "Whaddya think, Yuugo?" the oldest boy asked him. "Think you can follow up the ladies' moment in the spotlight?"

"Oh, oh dear…" Yuugo frowned at how riled up the girls were in wanting to protect Takumi. "Yuuko and Nokia… You guys…" He nervously shook his head. "What can I even say…?" He knit his eyebrows together as he also understood Takumi's difficult position. "Like seriously!"

"I got it!" Arata crossed his arms and nodded. "I understand your confusion!" He grinned at his best friend. "There's my bud! I'm glad you're making sense. I'm gonna start sprouting tears of joy here!"

Yuugo let out a weak laugh as both girls began glaring at Arata for ignoring Takumi's situation. "Arata… Maybe you should save this for later…"

The Mother Eater looked down at them as Suedou spoke. "At last, I can rebuild the world… I can finally eliminate everything that is crooked, ugly, or sad!" he exclaimed as he rose up to his full height, towering over them with his deformed body.

Nokia crookedly grinned as she looked up at the ugly creature. "What are you going to do about that?" she asked.

Alphamon helped pick her assistant up from the ground and set him down on his feet. "The new world that Suedou desires… That too is one of the choices the future holds," she nodded to the red-haired boy. "He may likely save all worlds. I feel Yggdrasil's presence and will within him. Yggdrasil would join forces to create a perfect world beyond even our Digital World. There would be many changes… The evolution he speaks of, forced onto the world, would bring with it creation as well. My role could be to watch over this conclusion," she told Takumi. "But… What do you all think? What do you want me to do?"

"Alphamon…" Takumi frowned at her for leaving such an important decision to him and his friends. The Cyber Sleuth struggled to turn to face everyone else behind him. "Everyone…"

Yuugo wore a determined frown. "We have to stop Suedou!"

Yuuko agreed with her brother. "To live in a world made by a madman would be unpleasant, to put it lightly."

"Yeah," Arata nodded, "Let's take the fight to him! We can do it!"

"Yeah, it'll work out!" Nokia exclaimed before looking up at her partner. "Right, Omegamon?" The white Royal Knight nodded to his black counterpart.

"I see," Alphamon nodded back before looking down at her assistant. "All right, let me ask you one last time. What are you going to do?"

Thinking back to the last time he had been asked such a similar question, Takumi stared at his friends and they all nodded to him. The Cyber Sleuth nodded back in understanding before closing his eyes and taking a deep. When he finally opened them again, he brought his right fist up to his chest and turned to face Alphamon. "Doggedly and with all our might, we'll exhibit endurance like hard black iron!" He smiled up at his boss. "Because… we have nothing to lose together!"

Alphamon proudly nodded at his firm resolve. She turned to face the Mother Eater alongside the rest of Takumi's Digimon. "Judgment has been passed. Human children, bow to my will!"

Everyone prepared for battle as Takumi led their assault. "We absolutely won't give up!" he roared as all ten of his Digimon and Alphamon rushed forward.

"Holy Sword Gradalpha!" the legendary Royal Knight slashed at one of the great arms looming over them.

"Burst Shot!" SaintGalgomon haphazardly fired at the arms and core.

"Garuru Cannon!"

Takumi quickly retreated as the brigade of Digimon continued their assault. He got down onto a knee as he studied the battle for the most efficient way to win. The Cyber Sleuth frowned as his half-cyber body was deteriorating more rapidly than he expected. Usually, he could just glance at the battle and obtain all of the information from his Digivice in an instant. Now with his body rebelling against him, he had no choice but slip on his goggles to manually retrieve the data himself. His blue eyes scanned the Mother Eater's left and right arm before he focused on the Core. "It's not really attacking," he noticed.

"I noticed that too," Yuugo nodded as he also knelt at his side. "Every time the core lights up, the arms seemed to be strengthened. We should get rid of that first."

Takumi shook his head. "It'll be difficult to reach with both arms active." He frowned as he threw a poison recovery patch towards Mugendramon. "Logon onto its right arm!" he called out.

The mechanical dragon roared as his eyes lit up. "Mugen Cannon!"

Yuugo nodded as the arm suddenly stopped moving. "Everyone, now's our chance! Aim for the Core!"

"Digitalize of Soul!"

"Catastrophe Cannon!"

"Phosphorous Fire Attack!"

The left arm tried to swat away Takumi and Yuugo, but both boys were immediately protected by Mugendramon. The Ultimate Virus roared as he released his limiters and pushed against the giant arm with all his might. "Catastrophe D!"

"Alright, Mugendramon!" Takumi rose up to pat his Digimon's head but paused when the Machine Digimon went to Yuugo instead. The Cyber Sleuth chuckled as he dismissed the loyal dragon from his team. "Well, I guess it's time I returned you to your proper owner."

Yuugo chuckled as he fondly patted Mugendramon. "Let's keep going then," he nodded. His eyes widened as he noticed the Mother Eater raising its right fist. As it came down, Yuugo rushed forward and quickly hacked a protective shield to defend them. "Eater!" He winced as he was knocked back into the air, but he couldn't allow himself to rest as it raised its left arm up. "I know, Eaters," he grit his teeth, "I'm weak, aren't I? My strength alone wasn't enough to stop you… But this time… I have friends!" the raven-haired boy exclaimed, looking down at Takumi, Yuuko, and the others. "Now I will win!" Takumi's aerial Digimon soared upwards to help him as the boy quickly hacked the platform they were standing on to rise. "We can stop you!"

"Yuugo!" Takumi winced as he accessed the Eater network too to speed up the process. His body began to crackle from the stress, but he forced himself to keep going. "Suedou-san…! We'll show you our limitless evolution!"

"Everyone!" Yuugo cried out. "Now!"

"Xros Combo!" Takumi screamed.

"Grey Sword!"

"Phosphorous Fire Attack!"

"Catastrophe Cannon!"

"Mugen Cannon!"

"Digitalize of Soul!"

"Burst Shot!"

"Dark Roar!"

"Ankoku no Gaia Force!"

"Blizzard Wolf Claw!"

"Destroyed Crash!"

"Infinity Arrow!"

"Chaos Shot!"

"Forbidden Temptation!"

"Spiral Sword!"

The Mother Eater winced as all of the attacks landed. "Vanquish Drive!" The beast unleashed an area-wide attack that tired out the Digimon, but the brigade of fighters continued to rise and attack it. Its right wing began to glow though as it began repairing itself while the left wing managed to bug all of the Digimon.

Arata smirked though as bugging didn't really bother his and Diablomon's Free nature. "Use Multiply and follow up with Paradise Lost!" Diablomon laughed as he made multiple copies of himself to surround the Mother Eater before unleashing a giant explosion from his chest. The copies disappeared as they couldn't be maintained for long, but the damage was done.

"That's our Geeta!" Nokia smirked as Takumi debugged all of the Digimon. "Omegamon! Time to go all out!"

The white Royal Knight slammed both his arms into the ground, unleashing wave upon wave of fire and ice. "Double Torrent!" While the left wing resisted the attack, the right wing suddenly became dull as it could no longer keep up its recovery functions.

"Onii-chan!" Yuuko nodded to her older brother. "Let's not fall behind either!"

Yuugo gently smiled at his sister before nodding. "Mugendramon! Logon!"

"Gaioumon! Gaia Reactor!"

"Mugen Cannon!"

The Mother Eater became engulfed by the massive explosion and when the smoke cleared, Takumi smirked as only the main body remained. "Alphamon!"

The black Royal Knight nodded as she charged forward with Takumi's Vaccine and Virus Digimon flanking her. "Holy Sword Gradalpha!"

"Copy Paste!" HiAndromon pulled out the metal baton on his back.

"Duke Charge!" ChaosDukemon roared as his Balmung glowed.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon (Black)'s wings trailed ice as he prepared to ram into the Mother Eater's main body.

BlackWarGreymon began to spin at a high frequency as he intended to drill through their opponent. "Black Tornado!"

"Demon Stab!"

"Saint Tackle!"

Their enemy reeled backwards before knocking them away with an area attack. Takumi frowned as be began relaying new orders to his team while his Data Digimon ran around to support the others and repair any damage they sustained. "BlackWarGreymon! Combine your Black Storm Tornado with as many of the others' attacks as possible! SaintGalgomon! Cover him with your Burst Shot! SaberLeomon! Pull Rosemon out of the frontlines! GrandLocomon, come with me!" He quickly grabbed onto the powerful train as it whizzed by him and had the Digimon quickly circle the battlefield as he passed out recovery items to his friends.

"Catastrophe Cannon!" Diablomon fired a barrage of energy from his chest after Arata replenished his stamina.

The Jude hacker nodded to Takumi in thanks as the younger boy tossed him a few more patches. "Jeez, I just went through my entire supply. I hope you have enough for everyone to keep going, Takumi."

"Don't worry," the redhead reassured him as he refitted his goggles onto his face. "I tend to carry a lot of extras." He spotted the Mother Eater about to swing its arm towards Yuuko and Nokia so quickly retreated into the safety of the GrandLocomon's cabin. "Full steam ahead!" he ordered his Digimon.

"Limited Express Attack!" The train became a blazing meteor as he rammed his entire body against the arm.

"Takumi!" Nokia cried as GrandLocomon flipped over.

The Cyber Sleuth cried out as his Digimon steadied himself. "GrandLocomon!" The blue-eyed boy quickly applied another recovery patch on the train before tensing up as he sensed the atmosphere change a bit. "Huh!?"

"Restart!" Suedou exclaimed as both the wings of the Mother Eater reactivated again. Both appendages glowed as they tried to quickly take out the Cyber Sleuth and GrandLocomon.

"Takumi!" Yuuko called out to him. "Look out!"

Both BlackWarGreymon and ChaosDukemon hurried to defend him from the heavy blasts. "Brave Shield!"

"Judecca Prison!" the dark knight blocked the incoming attacks with his Gorgon and immediately retaliated by sending out a corrosive beam from his shield. The rest of Takumi's Digimon returned to their tamer to support GrandLocomon.

Seeing as all of the Cyber Sleuth's Digimon were in one place, Suedou called out another area attack, crushing them to the ground. "Vanquish Drive!" When the Digimon refused to stay down, the Mother Eater crossed its arms as the man controlling the beast chuckled. "World Restart!"

"Everyone!" Takumi shouted as his team was only just barely hanging on. He struggled to dig through his pouch for a spray and quickly applied to his Digimon. His blue eyes widened though when it didn't seem to have any effect. "N-no…!" He tensed up as he sensed the Mother Eater raising a fist against him. Without his Digimon able to protect him, the Cyber Sleuth was a sitting duck.

"Takumi!" his friends cried out but they froze as a black-armored Digimon quickly intercepted the attack.

"Holy Sword Gradalpha!" Alphamon shouted as she brought her blade up to defend her assistant. She pushed back against the Mother Eater with all her might.

"World Restart!" Suedou called out again, engulfing the legendary Royal Knight in a large explosion. When the smoke cleared, Alphamon was down on a knee, trying to regain her breath.

"ALPHAMON!" Takumi screamed as he sprinted towards her.

The Mother Eater tried to swat her away, but Omegamon quickly intercepted the monstrous creature's arm. "Grey Sword!"

"Mugendramon! Catastrophe D!" Yuugo called out to his mechanical dragon to support the white knight.

"Takumi! It's dangerous to get too close!" Arata called out to the panicked boy. "Hurry up and retreat already!"

Takumi ignored everything around him in order to reach his boss. "Alphamon!" He fumbled with various recovery patches in his bag as he searched for something suitable to use. "H-hang in there! P-please…!" His hands shook as he tried everything he could, but there was nothing in his supplies that could repair her corroding data. He knew this for a fact as her state was too similar to his own destabilizing body. "N-no," he shook his head as he tried to use another recovery patch to no avail. "I… I did it again… Because of me… I'm going to lose someone important!" The Cyber Sleuth dropped to his knees and began to cry.

Alphamon studied him for a while before placing a hand on his bowed head. "Takumi," she gently spoke to him, "have you given up?"

"There's nothing else I can do!" He clenched his fists. "This all happened because of me anyway! It's always… my fault…" He brought gloved hand up and pulled off his goggles. "Everyone is always in danger because of me," he stated. "And every time I try to fix things, everything only gets worse!"

"Do you truly believe that?" Alphamon asked him, resulting in his tears to stop. "For the past year, you've worked as my assistant. How many cases have you taken during that time? How many were you able to resolve without fail?" Takumi frowned to himself as he couldn't really answer that considering he lost count of the various jobs he tackled. "And look around," the Digimon directed him before glancing over at his friends.

"Diablomon!" Arata clenched his teeth. "System Fail!" His Digimon wrapped himself in a green sphere of energy to block and attack before blasting the shield away.

"Omegamon!" Nokia pointed at the Mother Eater. "Double Torrent!"

Yuuko brought her fists up. "Gaioumon! Gaia Reactor!"

"Logon, Mugendramon!" Yuugo knit his eyebrows together and frowned. "Mugen Cannon!"

Takumi watched as the four of them continued to fight. "Everyone…"

"Who was it that showed them the resolve to fight?" Alphamon reminded the boy. "The one person who showed them the correct path to take to further their evolution? Even if this all stemmed from your past mistake, who was it that decided to journey all the way here to correct it, regardless of the consequences?"

The Cyber Sleuth clenched his fist around his Digivice. "That was all me…"

The Digimon nodded at him. "Now, stand up, Takumi," she helped pull him up. "It's time you rejoined the others in battle."

"But my team…" Takumi turned back to face his fallen Digimon but gasped as they all rose again. "Y-you guys…" he knit his eyebrows together. "You're all completely glitched… I can't let you fight like this…" He tensed up as Alphamon rose to her feet. "Alphamon, stop! If you continue to fight, you'll all—"

"I have an obligation to fulfill," the Royal Knight told him. "I have been tasked to preserve Yggdrasil's will, but now I currently stand in opposition of Yggdrasil. This is because I chose to believe in what I thought to be a stronger will. A nobler one," she nodded to the boy, "A will belonging to that of an irregular, even amongst irregulars. It is a powerful will that believes in the limitless possibilities of the future's evolution."

"Evolution…" Takumi's blue eyes widened as he stared at his gloved hand before putting on his goggles over his eyes once more. "That's right! I need to evolve even further!" He glanced at his team and knit his eyebrows together in determination. "You all really want to fight, don't you?" He chuckled as they nodded to him. "Yeah, I understand… We've been through so much together, haven't we? I even raised most of you from the Child level all the way up to Ultimate…" he closed his eyes and fondly recalled his time as a Cyber Sleuth, "But there has to be a level beyond even that!" he exclaimed as he held up his right hand towards them. "Let's discover it together!"

"Mugendramon, Catastrophe D!" Yuugo frowned as it wasn't enough since the Mother Eater repaired its wings yet again. "We need to focus on the main body, yet the wings keep getting in the way. Even if we take out the wings, they'll just eventually repair themselves!" He shook his head. "With only four Digimon, we can't keep up with its recovery speed!"

"But it's not like Takumi's team is in any condition to keep going!" Arata stated. He grit his teeth together as Diablomon managed to avoid a blast of energy coming from the left wing. "It'd be better if Kyoko-san was still able to fight, but at least we still have Omegamon."

"Even so," Nokia frowned, "Omegamon's getting tired… If this keeps up, he'll definitely go back into being Agumon and Gabumon!"

"I'm sorry, Nokia," Omegamon gasped as he landed on the ground.

"No, it's not your fault!" the girl shook her head. "Everything will work out!" she cried out in the hopes another miracle will arrive. "We have to make it work!"

Yuuko let out a tired sigh as Gaioumon fired a beam of light from his swords. "Okay, its left wing is down!"

"So is its right!" Arata nodded as Diablomon cracked the other wing with his Catastrophe Cannon. "Let's hurry up and take down the main body before they restart again!"

"Vanquish Drive!"

The four teenagers winced as the Mother Eater sapped even more of their Digimon's strength. Nokia cried out as it began crossing its arms again. "Uh-oh! It's that one attack!"

"Everyone, get back before you get glitched!" Yuugo called for a retreat.

"World Restart!"

"MetalGarurumon (Black)! BlackWarGreymon!" Takumi sent his two loyal Virus Digimon forward to defend his friends. "Go!"

"Brave Shield!"

"Blizzard Wolf Claw!"

"Takumi!" Yuuko turned towards the Cyber Sleuth, wondering why he would recklessly send his Digmon forward like that, but she paused as he was holding his right arm out. His glove glowed as he seemed to be hacking something. "Eh!? What are you…?"

The red-haired boy winced as his body flickered a little, but he ignored the pain as he cried out to both his bugged Digimon caught in the explosion. "Jogress!"

As the smoke cleared, a powerful warrior with a flowing black mantle fired a powerful blast from his fractured arm cannon. "Garuru Cannon!"

Omegamon's eyes widened at the sight. "What!?"

Nokia tensed up at the heavily bandaged black Digimon that appeared. "Huh!?" She glared at Takumi. "What, what, what!? What sort of Digimon is that!?"

"Omegamon Zwart D!" Takumi shouted. "Double Torrent!"

Arata smirked at the new Digimon's devastating power. "Well, would you look at that? He's even stronger than Omegamon!"

"As if!" Nokia cried out. "Omegamon! Show everyone who the better Omegamon is!"

"Okay!" the white Royal Knight nodded before he took off to help his dark counterpart. "Grey Sword!"

Yuugo curiously looked towards Takumi and smiled. "He really is on a whole other level when it comes to hacking. It's extremely risky to tamper with a Digimon's data, but he understands his team so well that they're willing to entrust him with their lives."

Yuuko watched as Rosemon, SaintGalgomon, and HiAndromon lined up behind the boy. "Those are…!"

"You three were my first Digimon," Takumi stated with his eyes closed. "You've always been at my side, supporting me and balancing each other. SaintGalgomon, HiAndromon! I'm sending your data to Rosemon now!" he cried out as he altered them. "Burst Mode!"

SaintGalgomon and HiAndromon nodded as they gave Rosemon all of their power. The Fairy Digimon rose into the air as her white petal cape turned into a pink mantle of energy. Her red rose headdress became white as her whip elongated. She snapped her weapon towards the Mother Eater before blowing a kiss at her opponent. "Aguichant Lèvres!" Hearts surrounded the giant creature and they began to overwhelm the Mother Eater with lasers.

Yuuko smiled at the new evolution Takumi formed from the three Digimon she had initially given him. "You really have come a long way from when I first introduced you to your Digimon. It's a bit strange to see you surpass even me and Gaioumon…" She clenched her fists as she wasn't about to let it remain that way for long. "Let's go too, Gaioumon!" she cried out to her partner.

"Gaia Reactor!" the samurai-like Dragon Man roared as he detonated a condensed ball of atmospheric energy.

Takumi smirked as the battle was beginning to swing in their favor. "We have to… keep going…!" The Cyber Sleuth nearly faltered but Darkdramon quickly supported the boy. The red-haired boy gratefully smiled at the Digimon that had been created specifically to be a weapons-grade laser. "Ever since I saved you, you've done well to prove you're not just a weapon. Now, let's go! Darkdramon! SaberLeomon!" He altered his yellow lion's data, causing the Digimon to revert into GrappuLeomon. Takumi groaned as his body flickered again, but he ignored the pain as he continued altering the data in front of him so GrappuLeomon could evolve into BanchoLeomon. "Okay, now! Jogress!"

The resultant Digimon resembled Omegamon in that both its arms were made up of its previous evolutions. The lion-shaped head on its right arm carried a powerful blade while its Darkdra Arm converted the Gigastick Lance into a cannon. Its shared body was teal but the frame appeared thin and fragile. Over all, the Digimon seemed unstable but Takumi quickly used his own data to help support his new Digimon.

Arata scanned the new evolution and his eyes widened at its power. "Chaosmon?" He knit his eyebrows together as he noticed how buggy it was. "What a monster…" The raven-haired hacker shook his head and chuckled though as he looked over towards Takumi. "But considering the Digimon's monster of a hacker, it makes sense…"

Chaosmon aimed his Darkdra Arm and fired at the Mother Eater. "Dark Prominence!"

The veteran hacker worriedly frowned as he noticed Chaosmon seemed to using his own digital cells as ammunition. "Tch, they're both pretty reckless too. Diablomon! Cover Chaosmon, will you!?"

"Paradise Lost!" the Unknown Digimon unleashed a large explosion from his chest before quickly getting to Chaosmon's side.

After three evolutions, Takumi was now panting heavily. "One more…" he clenched his teeth together. "This is the final evolution! ChaosDukemon! GrandLocomon! Let's go!" He let out a painful cry as both Digimon devolved into their Child forms, V-mon and Wormmon. Takumi then worked on evolving them back into Adults. "XV-mon! Stingmon! Jogress!" The Cyber Sleuth's body flickered some more but he had to keep going as the Perfect Paildramon wasn't enough. "Evolve… We have to evolve!"

"Takumi!" Yuugo quickly accessed the network the blue-eyed boy was using to hack his Digimon. "Let me help! At this rate, you won't be able to last the rest of the battle! Besides, you'll need a lot of power to evolve Paildramon twice!"

"Thanks, Yuugo…" the younger boy nodded and smiled. "Paildramon! Let's go!" Paildramon's body glowed as he evolved into a massive dragon wearing black armor. With the added boost in data from Yuugo, the dragon roared as his body changed so that he was able to stand on two feet. Takumi let out a fierce shout as he had his final Digimon rush forward. "Go, Imperialdramon Fighter Mode!"

"Mugendramon, logon!" Yuugo commanded his Digimon.

The Ancient Dragon Man Digimon raised his right arm at the Mother Eater and charged his weapon. "Positron Laser!"

The Digital World's most powerful machine's eyes lit up as he too fired his cannons. "Mugen Cannon!"

Takumi triumphantly laughed as his four Digimon returned to him. "Alright, everyone! This is it!" The Cyber Sleuth stood tall as Omegamon Zwart D, Rosemon Burst Mode, Chaosmon, and Imperialdramon Fighter Mode lined up in a semi-circle behind him.

Nokia smirked at her best friend as Omegamon was at her side. "That's my favorite Cyber Sleuth for you! Nothing ever keeps him down!"

Arata slipped his hands into his pockets with Diablomon landing next to him. "We're ready when you are, Takumi!"

Yuuko clenched her fists and nodded as Gaioumon crossed his glowing blades. "We'll win this together!"

"That's right," Yuugo smiled as Mugendramon began charging his cannons, "because we're all here at your side!"

"Takumi," Alphamon stood directly behind her assistant despite her injuries. "It's time to finish this!"

The red-haired Cyber Sleuth raised his right arm into the air. "Xros Combo!"

Omegamon swung his sword with as much force as he could. "Grey Sword!"

"Catastrophe Cannon!" Diablomon's green sphere in his chest glowed as he fired off multiple blasts of energy from it.

Gaioumon charged his swords with energy before letting out a fierce shout. "Phosphorous Fire Attack!"

Mugendramon's eyes lit up as he let out a creaking roar. "Mugen Cannon!"

"Tifaret!" Rosemon Burst Mode barraged the Mother Eater with multiple glowing jewels.

"Garuru Cannon!" Omegamon Zwart D charged up his blaster to its maximum level.

Chaosmon placed his BAN-TYO Blade into the jaws of his Darkdra Arm before firing a strange beam from his Gigastick Cannon. "End of Paradox!"

Imperialdramon Fighter Mode fixed his Positron Laser into his dragon-faced chest plate before firing it. "Giga Death!"

Alphamon held out her right arm and used her remaining strength to summon a magic circle of Digimoji. "Digitalize of Soul!" Multiple beams of energy fired out from the seal as she focused on ending the battle.

Takumi let out a roar as his glove began glow again. As soon as his Digimon finished their attacks, they nodded as they condensed into shining orb of data to be sent to Alphamon's magic circle. He winced as his body flickered again and his goggle lenses cracked but he concentrated all his efforts into his final hacking operation. "This is it! Alphamon Ouryuken!"

The regal knight narrowed her eyes as her seal expanded and she quickly pulled out the heavy axe-like blade from the seal. As soon as she touched the weapon, she charged through the magic circle, rushing towards the Mother Eater. While passing through the seal, her data quickly began to repair itself and change thanks to Takumi's modifications. Her blue mantle billowed behind her as she spread out her golden wings. "Ultimate Battle Blade Ouryuken!"

The legendary Royal Knight returned to Takumi's side as the two watched the Mother Eater writhe in pain before slumping over in defeat. The detective and her assistant shared a triumphant smile as the other teens took a moment to let it sink in that they won.

Finally, Nokia was the first to cry out. "Excellent!" she cheered with a bright smirk on her face.

"But Suedou is still inside the Mother Eater," Yuuko knit her eyebrows together. "What shall we do?"

"Well, should we lock him up in here for now?" Arata suggested.

"It's not a perfect solution," Yuugo mused, "but for the time being, it's our best course of action."

"Well, then," Nokia nodded, "let's get help from the Royal Knights and the other Digimon!"

"Right," Arata smirked as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "We'll take care of this giant thing by ourselves. Maybe we can make it happen, but the odds sure are stacked against us…"

You guys… Takumi gently smiled at his friends as they continued discussing their next move. After pushing his goggles up, he looked down at his gloved hand. His fingers weakly trembled as he barely had the strength to stabilize his own data anymore. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath and curled his hand into a fist before making up his mind of what he had to do. Thanks for everything, everyone… he thought as he quickly took off past them and towards the defeated Mother Eater.

Arata's eyes widened as he spotted Takumi running. "Oh! Hey!"

"Takumi…" Nokia glared at the thin boy's back. "No, you're not going to—!"

Takumi didn't say anything he raised his arm up towards the monstrous creature, resulting in Arata scolding him. "You idiot! I told you not to!"

"Suedou said your body couldn't take it, didn't he?" Nokia asked.

"Alphamon!" Yuuko turned to the only person the Cyber Sleuth would listen to. "Stop Takumi! We've got to do something!" she desperately cried out. "K-kyoko-san!"

Alphamon looked up from the four teens before her towards the boy who was her assistant. Takumi turned his head back towards the Digimon and the Royal Knight saw in his eyes the burning resolve he had to see this through. Alphamon shook her head at Yuuko and the others before calling out to Takumi. "Go, Cyber Sleuth! Find the truth that only you can!"

"Understood!" Takumi cried out with a nod as he performed what could very well be his last Connect Jump. And thank you… for understanding…

Arata tried to reach out to the younger boy and pull him back but he just barely missed. "Wh-what is Takumi doing!?"

"No!" Nokia let out a shaky breath as she clasped her hands over her heart. "Why? We said not to!"

"Oh no!" Yuuko knit her eyebrows together.

The three teens looked up towards Alphamon in confusion as to why she didn't stop him. "Let's see Takumi's decision though," the black Royal Knight spoke to them in a calm manner as she placed all of her faith into her assistant, "However it happens to turn out."

---

Takumi slowly drifted through the Eater network before coming to a stop. He looked around the swirling darkness around him to search for Suedou, but was soon forced to get down to a knee. He groaned in pain as his body flickered a few times. The redhead was using all of his energy to keep himself together but he still didn't allow himself to give up. He would find Suedou if it was the last thing he did.

"Su… Suedou-san!" he called out into the darkness as he panted.

To the boy's surprise, the man actually responded to his call. "My goodness! You've come to my rescue, too?"

"O-of c-course!" the boy gasped.

"You ignored my warnings? And wound up in such a wretched form?" Suedou sighed. "Such a waste of effort. I have been fully assimilated by the Mother Eater."

"E-even… s-so…"

"You're not like Arata or Yuuko-san or Yuugo-kun," Suedou mused.

"N-no… I-I'm… n-not…" Takumi opened his eyes and forced himself to head further into the network.

"You'll never find me," the man tried to dissuade him from continuing. If the boy left now, he still had a chance to survive. Suedou knew Takumi understood that yet the red-haired boy ignored any such thoughts of returning alone. "You're wasting your time. And even if you do find me… I won't go back. I would sooner disappear than not allow sadness to vanish from all possible worlds."

"Is our world… really that bad...?" Takumi asked him. "B-because… I don't think it is… Suedou-san. Even if it is… painful… sometimes…"

"I find it hard to comprehend why you would choose a world where sadness is so widespread." Suedou took a moment to study the boy travelling through the network. "You're the same way. In doing this, you bring sadness to Arata-kun and the others."

"I… know…" Takumi frowned but he continued forward anyway. "I know… but I won't go back. Not yet…"

"It's so strange. There's no logic to it." Suedou tried to understand the Cyber Sleuth. "What will change if you rescue me? Who will be happier for it? Do you have a satisfactory answer for me?"

Takumi remained silent as he stopped travelling through the network and brought his hand up to his mouth. He closed his eyes to think it over very carefully. After a while, a small smile appeared on his face. "I don't want to leave anyone behind…"

"But that's just your ego talking, surely?"

"Yeah, it is my ego," Takumi's smile grew as he lifted his head up. "So what? I made a promise."

"This is rather ominous… I am confused," Suedou admitted to him. "Even with all of Yggdrasil's calculating power, I cannot derive an answer for you…"

"Is that so?" the boy lightly chuckled, despite his weakening state. "Instead of using logic against me, why not resort to what essentially makes us human?"

"What…?" Suedou pondered what the boy could be referring to. "What's this? What, what, what!?" Running another calculation, he began to understand what it was that set Takumi and him apart. "Is that so? Is that what it was?" Suedou laughed at the answer he just discovered. "It just hit me!" the scientist exclaimed. "I finally understand! 'God does not play dice with the universe!' All of you were the dice this whole time! Can you bet on dice that have wills of their own?"

Takumi chuckled at that. "It's not so much as 'betting' as it is 'believing'… I wouldn't be here otherwise," he fondly smiled as he thought of the Digimon who pushed him to come, despite the risks.

"I see… I see!" Suedou nodded. "In this way, multiple universes are formed through infinitely branching space-time! A waste, meaningless and without value…" Takumi frowned at that but remained silent so the man could continue his rant. "After all, what was defined as a fluctuation cannot exceed the perspective of the observer!" He nodded to himself. "I understand. Awareness at a single temporal point causes realities to combine. Hmm?" He paused for a moment as he further considered the world Takumi seemed to believe in. "Hang on though. Please wait a moment. Please wait a moment. Please wait. That seems to be a logical leap, no?"

"Logic, emotion… Fate, luck… Does it really matter?" Takumi asked with a laugh. He winced though as his body began to act up again. He got down to a knee and groaned. "Ngh…" he shook his head as he could no longer keep up his avatar's appearance so reverted into a mass of flickering blue data.

"Oh my, that won't do," Suedou stated. "We can't have you disappear here now." The man finally materialized himself in front of Takumi, helping to stabilize the boy's form.

"Suedou-san…" Takumi looked up at the scientist.

"You shall validate my new theory," the man nodded to him, "As one of my precious dice. I'll call it the 'Theory Proving the Existence of God who Creates Dice Tossed by a God of Dice'!" he brightly smiled at the boy. "And to prove this theory, I must disappear, along with the Eaters!"

"You can't!" Takumi exclaimed in alarm. "I won't let you!"

Suedou smiled at the kind-hearted boy. "Our existence is too unique and overpowering," he tried to explain. "We will throw off the results of the equation."

"But such random variables are also a part of chance and dice throwing, isn't it?" the redhead asked. "I understand removing the Eaters but—"

The man chuckled as Takumi was exactly the type of person he had thought the boy to be. "The Eaters will simply return to their original role. To the form they should have had, before they were corrupted by the digital world we created," he nodded. "A higher dimension extending over countless parallel worlds, including both ours and the Digital World. The Eaters exist in regions we cannot and must never access," he seriously stated. "These higher dimensions are beyond our capacity to even imagine," he levelly stared into Takumi's eyes.

"Even for the two of us?" Takumi knit his eyebrows together.

"They comprise part of a vast system that could be called the Great Intent or the Works of the Gods," Suedou explained. "The Eaters were manifested through contact with our data, in our dimension, and took on its form and substance."

The boy brought a hand up to his mouth. "I see…"

"The results were as you have seen," the scientist nodded. "Whether this effect was by chance or predestined, I cannot say. Only the gods know for sure," he shrugged. "Even if I were to ask Yggdrasil… I don't know if Yggdrasil even has a gender, but 'his' calculations do not confirm the existence of any godly entities. However, his calculations are still ongoing, so who knows what the ultimate answer will be?"

Takumi wryly smiled at that. "Such an answer would take an eternity to calculate, so we might as well discover it on our own for ourselves."

Suedou chuckled at the boy's persistence in trying to pull him out of the Mother Eater. "In any case, I shall require Yggdrasil's help in order to 'reformat' all the Eaters that have connected to me."

"You really won't return with me…?" Takumi sadly lowered his gaze. "In that case, let me do it instead! I can definitely get rid of all the Eaters."

The scientist shook his head at the boy. "We cannot remove them from every dimension, nor is there any reason to do so. The possibility of a similar event recurring in your future is one is 8192 to the 20th power. So please," he smiled at the redhead, "don't worry about it."

"Suedou-san!" Takumi shook his head. "I can't just let you—"

"If my calculations are correct," the adult nodded to himself, "your universe will cease to exist before that ever comes to pass. So you can live and die free from the Eaters… Oh," he smirked at the boy, "and be born again, to prove my theory!"

"Suedou-san!" the Cyber Sleuth glared at the man as tears filled his eyes. "If you disappear, how am I supposed to repay you for back then!?" he angrily asked out of desperation. "I'm not leaving without you!"

The man wryly smiled as it would seem as though he and Takumi would never be able to agree on anything, even if they did understand each other. The scientist chuckled as perhaps this was for the best. "I won't give you a choice in the matter! This is just my ego talking," he nodded to the boy beginning to cry.

"Suedou-san…"

"I shall therefore take my leave of you now," Suedou stated as he stepped away from the Cyber Sleuth. "If you are so inclined, maybe we shall meet again!"

"Suedou-san!" Takumi called out after the man turning away from him. He tried to chase him but the boy felt his body becoming more and more unstable. It was as though his limbs were heavy lead and Takumi found himself unable to move. Seeing as the redhead couldn't leave on his own, Suedou quickly kicked Takumi out of the network before the boy's data could corrode even further. The Cyber Sleuth absently stared into space as he took a few steps away from the Mother Eater behind him. He ended up collapsing to a knee though as his body flickered. "Ngh!" he groaned as he quickly pulled himself together.

Nokia let out a surprised yell as she spotted Takumi.

"Takumi!" Yuuko gasped.

"You…" Arata stared at the younger boy with wide eyes, "made it back?"

"Takumi made it back!?" Nokia asked, hoping it wasn't just a trick. "For reals?" They all ran towards their youngest friend and Arata carefully supported him before Nokia began scolding the reckless Cyber Sleuth. "What the hell did you think you were doing!? You… idiot! You stupid jerkface!"

"Listen, you!" Arata sternly frowned at him. "There's only so much crazy stuff we're gonna let you get away with!"

"What were the rest of us supposed to do if you didn't make it back?" Yuuko glared at him as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"S-sorry…" Takumi lowered his gaze.

Yuugo managed to put on a smile, knowing Takumi was back safe and sound. "But all's well that ends well," he pointed out to the others. "I'm still glad."

Arata chuckled at that before looking around. "And what about Suedou?"

"It… looks like he's gone," Yuuko noticed.

Takumi frowned to himself as he thought back to what he and Suedou discussed. "He… complained that he didn't want to go home and kept saying things that made no sense…" He remembered the serene smile on the man's face though as he finally understood what it was that Takumi saw in the world's infinite possibilities. "But… he seemed quite satisfied," the boy managed to put on a small grin.

"What's the deal with that?" Arata sighed. "I guess that's just like him though."

Omegamon tensed up as the Mother Eater began to glow. "Whoa… Whoa!" His eyes widened in surprise. "It's Yggdrasil's will!"

"Yggdrasil's normal functions have resumed," Alphamon stated, "and seems to be restoring the Digital World."

"Whoa, hey…" Arata readjusted his hold on Takumi. "Shouldn't we be leaving then?"

"Y-yes," Yuugo agreed. "We had better get out of here."

"Hmm…" Alphamon nodded, "A reasonable decision."

"Okay! Let's move!" Nokia declared before looking at the weakened Cyber Sleuth. "Are you okay, Takumi?"

Takumi chuckled as he pulled away from Arata. Everybody stared at him in surprise as the redhead was actually standing on his own. "Everyone," he nodded at them with a wide grin on his face, "let's go home."

---

As everyone reemerged in the Digital World, they were surprised by how lush and green the forests were. As the five humans took it all in, they smiled at each other at how nostalgic it all was. Alphamon and Omegamon stood behind them but soon, the white Royal Knight reverted back into his Agumon and Gabumon forms.

"This takes me back," Arata chuckled at his friends.

"Yeah!" Nokia nodded. "It's the Digital World as we saw it way back when!"

"Everything is… going back to normal…" Takumi wore a relieved smile as he suddenly felt the need to cry. "I'm so glad…!" he stated, bringing his arm up to wipe his tears.

Yuuko chuckled at how sensitive he was before looking up at the sky with a gasp. Glowing blue bits of data were zooming across the sky in dazzling patterns and she brought her hands up to her mouth as she admired the sight. "It's so beautiful."

"What's that?" Yuugo asked, placing a hand on his hip.

"It's the mental data preserved within the Eaters' network," Alphamon stated.

"All of that is?" Yuuko asked.

"Yes," the legendary Royal Knight nodded, "Yggdrasil is sending it back to your world."

"And that will heal EDEN Syndrome, right?" Arata eagerly asked.

"Heal…?" Alphamon shook her head. "That's not quite the right world, really, but something similar to that will likely occur, yes. A phenomenon you humans would call 'miraculous'," she smiled, looking over towards her assistant.

"Miraculous, huh?" Takumi sheepishly chuckled.

"I don't quite get it," Nokia shook her head, "But Yuugo-kun and Takumi will wake up!?"

"Hmph," Alphamon chuckled, "And therein lies the miracle."

Nokia and Yuuko both smiled at the boys with EDEN Syndrome. The raven-haired girl couldn't believe it as she tried her best not to cry. "O-onii-chan!"

"That's…" Nokia rubbed her eyes, "that's excellent!"

Yuugo and Takumi turned to each other and smiled. Yuugo nodded to the younger boy in thanks as the redhead began to blush from the gratitude his role model giving him. Takumi paused though as he spotted a glowing ball of light drifting around them. "Hm? That looks familiar…"

"Aaah!" Yuuko gasped.

"What is that!?" Arata asked.

"Wait, what's going on!?" Nokia grinned. "This is too adorbs!" she cried out as she tried chasing after it.

"This sphere is the Eater's original form," Alphamon stated.

"What?" Nokia stopped going after it and blinked at the floating ball before letting out a scream.

Takumi laughed at his best friend. "Relax, Nokia. It's completely harmless now," he reassured her. He paused though as the ball drifted towards him. The boy held up his right hand and watched as it landed in his palm. "Hello again… Eater…"

His friends stared at the redhead in surprise as he played with the ball. "Hey! Takumi!" Arata nervously knit his eyebrows together.

"It's alright," Takumi smiled. "It won't be like the last time when I corrupted it with my loneliness. I'm… stronger now," he nodded.

Yuuko shook her head as the ball engulfed the redhead's arm. "What is it doing?"

"That's how it scans, moving from one piece of data to the next," Alphamon nodded as Takumi carefully maneuvered the Eater to his other hand, "sending information to a higher dimension. It has no clear objective, but I have one theory. Things like St. Elmo's Fire, UFOs, strange orbs… These light-emitting bodies were maybe temporary visualizations of an Eater in a Digital Wave. What we take as the plasma phenomenon could be an Eater in its energy form transmitting information. It fits the behavior and first-hand accounts. This mystery circle form, impossible to recreate, is also one of the advanced or maybe low-level ideographic symbols used in their network and—"

"Stop, staaaaahp!" Nokia cried out as she was completely lost. Looking towards Arata and Yuuko, it looked like the two hacking legends were also confused by the sudden lecture.

"Oops…" Alphamon lowered her gaze at her assistant who had been intently listening. "Sorry. It's nearly time for Kuremi Kyoko's farewell. I just wanted to feel the rush of giving an info-dump one last time."

"Eh!?" Takumi quickly let go of the Eater. "F-farewell…?"

"What?" Nokia frowned.

Alphamon placed her hand on Takumi's head as the boy was beginning to cry again. "Or maybe I'm simply reluctant to part with you."

"Alphamon…" Takumi stared up at her as he did his best to keep himself together. He brought his arm up to wipe his face. "Right… I'm stronger than this. I already told you… that I would accept what would happen…" He took in a deep breath to calm down. "Even if we were to part… I'd see this through to the end… Isn't that right, Alphamon?" He wore a painful smile as the black Royal Knight proudly gave him a nod.

Yuuko sadly stared at the boy doing his best to remain strong. "By parting, you mean…"

"Yes, that's what I mean," Alphamon wryly smiled at them. "Yggdrasil will soon send you back to your world. In order to completely restore the Digital World, we must remove all foreign objects."

"Tch," Arata frowned as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "We're being treated like bugs…"

"Does Yggdrasil wish to restore the Digital World to the state it was in before we arrived?" Yuugo asked. "To the way it was more than eight years ago?"

"More than that?" Nokia knit her eyebrows together. "Hang on a sec… That means…" she turned to face Agumon and Gabumon. "Does this mean we'll have never met, then? That we're all gonna forget each other?"

"Perhaps," Agumon sadly lowered his gaze.

"That's… that's…!" Nokia shook her head as she couldn't accept that.

"But in that case, we can just meet again!" Gabumon smiled up at her.

"I'm certain everything will work out!" Agumon brightened up too and nodded in agreement.

Nokia stared at her Digimon for a while before nodding to them. "Yeah… right?" Soon she was able to smile again. "Everything will work out, one way or another!" She shook her head. "What I mean is, we'll make it work out!" she exclaimed.

Alphamon smiled at Nokia and the two Digimon before looking down at her assistant. She reluctantly removed her hand from his head and gave Takumi a nod. "Well, it seems it's almost time. We'll send you back and recall the Digimon. The door that has been opened will be closed."

"Right," Takumi nodded to her as he stepped backwards to rejoin his friends.

"This is farewell, human children!" Alphamon took a step back too, lest the two would be tempted to not part with each other. "The worlds will return to the way they should be," she stated, never taking her eyes off the boy. "A wide, accepting, and yet chaotic place… That's the world we live in," she smiled at the world Takumi believed in. "And the crazy, beautiful, loveable world that raised all of you, our friends… I hope the day comes when your children and we, the Digimon, can become friends once again."

"Until that day," Takumi smiled up at her, "goodbye… Alphamon…"

"And now this case is finally closed," Alphamon concluded with a nod.

"Yeah…" the boy grinned. The two exchanged nods with each other once more before Yggdrasil finally began to send them away. The Cyber Sleuth and his friends became encased in a translucent green sphere and it lifted them into the sky.

"Agumon! Gabumon!" Nokia smiled at them. "Thanks to you, we grew stronger!" She waved to them as they rose higher into the air. "Thank you! Bye-bye!"

"We will most assuredly meet again!" Gabumon cried out to her as he waved back.

"Buh-bye, everybody!" Agumon smiled at them.

Alphamon tightened her left hand's grip on the sword Takumi created for her as she waved at him with her right. Takumi brought his right fist to his heart and nodded to her. "We'll always be connected, Alphamon!" he cried out. "I'll always believe that! Thank you for everything!"

---

As the five teens followed the flow of the Digital Line connecting the Digital World to their world, they soon noticed the wave of Digimon rushing back to the Digital World. Nokia smiled at them and waved them off before Takumi let out an excited shout. "Ah! Look! It's the Royal Knights!" Jesmon and Craniummon smiled at the boy as they passed the teens returning home. "Thanks for all your help, everyone!" the boy smiled. "I won't ever forget all you did for us!" The Royal Knights nodded to him in acknowledgement as they continued on their way.

Nokia wore a sad frown as the Digimon disappeared behind them. "Everyone's going home…"

"Does this mean that the Digimon are going to leave our world?" Arata frowned as he released Infermon from his Digivice.

Yuuko frowned as she said goodbye to Gaioumon. "If so, things will get awful lonely." Yuugo fondly patted Mugendramon before sending the mechanical dragon away. The raven-haired boy wordlessly turned toward their world and prepared to take off, but Yuuko quickly called out to him. "Onii-chan!?"

The older brother paused before giving her a reassuring smile. "It's okay, Yuuko. My cyber form is returning to my physical body."

"Th-then that means…!" a smile began to grow on her face.

"Yes," he nodded. "I'll have a real body, after eight years…" He knit his eyebrows together and stared down at his current form. "It will feel very heavy and confining."

"Don't worry," Arata smirked at him. "I'll be there to help with your rehabilitation!"

"Just go easy on me," Yuugo smirked back at his best friend. "Okay then, see you soon!" he stated before his body turned into a ball of data that quickly rushed off ahead of them.

Arata turned around to smile at Nokia and Takumi behind him. "We made it!"

Yuuko nodded as she also turned to face her friends. "Let's go home… Our world is waiting!"

"Yeah!" Nokia grinned before turning to face Takumi. She extended her hand out to the Cyber Sleuth. "Let's go home! All of us together!"

"Everyone…" Takumi smiled at them as he dragged his tired right arm up to accept her hand. Before he could reach her though, his body suddenly burst into a bright mass of intangible data.

Nokia's eyes widened at what just happened. "Huh!?" Behind her, she could hear Yuuko and Arata also gasp in surprise. The turquoise-eyed girl frowned at the dissipating data before her and tried grabbing at it, to no avail. The large mass of whatever remained suddenly broke apart as what used to be Takumi disappeared into the flow of the Digital Line.

The three remaining teens soon found themselves in an intersection of Shinjuku. They stared at the road in disbelief as Takumi's cracked goggles clattered to the ground in front of them. Yuuko slowly worked up the nerve to gingerly pick them up as Arata clenched his fists. Nokia brought her hands up to her heart and began to cry. Around them, cars began to honk at them but they didn't care. All they could think about was their lost friend.

---

Final Notes: So I might have been a little bit mean in where I decided to cut the chapter... But seriously, up until here, I was completely fine with how the ending was going to play out. Like hell, I'm keeping the game's actual ending of rebooting the world... Parts of it made no sense! Anyway... that's for tomorrow. Right now, I want to focus on Takumi's final team. Omegamon Zwart D was first introduced in Next 0rder, but I gave him to Takumi because I made a mistake with Omegamon Zwart. I didn't know Omegamon Zwart was Vaccine, not Virus. That confused me a lot... Plus, with Nokia being partnered with Omegamon as well as Takumi's equal, I needed a Digimon to reflect that. For Nokia, I'm pretty sure Omegamon's base is WarGreymon but for Takumi, it would be MetalGarurumon (Black), hence their different preferences for which arm they use. It probably doesn't help that I prefer Gabumon's evolution line over Agumon's... For Rosemon Burst Mode, well, she's the only starter who has a form beyond her Ultimate so of course she's a given. There's probably some irony in her rose motif and the fact that Yuuko gave the Digimon to Takumi, but oh well. Chaosmon I just really wanted to give to Takumi because Chaosmon and Darkdramon are awesome. See, I'd be able to give Takumi Omegamon Zwart if Chaosmon had remained Virus, but apparently Chaosmon is Vaccine. As for Imperialdramon Fighter Mode, I might as well finally give Takumi a proper Free Digimon. He was the only one with a further form beyond Ultimate though... For anyone curious about the line used to devolve ChaosDukemon and GrandLocomon though, it's ChaosDukemon to MegaloGrowmon to Veedramon to V-mon and GrandLocomon to CannonBeemon to Kuwagamon to Wormmon. It's a bit convoluted, but it works! Also... I decided to return Mugendramon to Yuugo because he's kinda just there otherwise. That and I couldn't really do anything to Mugendramon... Oh, and Alphamon Ouryuken! Because that's still my favorite Digimon ever! I like to think Alphamon is Takumi's true partner and of course their bond would be reflected through Ouryuken. Pretty much, it'd be Takumi altering his team and a bit of his own data to match Ouryumon's signature just so he and Alphamon can bring out each other's greatest potential.