Alright, I lied. Here's another chapter.

Whoa, number 30! I'm almost done...

MaloMyotismon

"It's getting kind of dark," Yolei suddenly commented. They had been walking for some time, and though the ocean was far behind them, the air was still heavy. "Seems like that was a longer day than usual, don't you guys think?"

"That's 'cause there is no real difference between night and day in this world." Tsukaimon said, "It's getting darker because we're going further inland."

Yolei hummed in thought, and then turned to Matt. "When did you get through?"

"Wednesday evening." He replied simply. After a moment of thinking, he went on, "But who knows? It feels like we've been here for at least a day, even though I haven't noticed a sunset or anything."

Ken, meanwhile, wasn't worrying about how long they had been in the world of darkness. His focus drifted to the environment around them. The blackness covered the area like an impenetrable fog, and as it grew deeper, so did the sense of foreboding.

"Something's coming," he ventured.

Tsukaimon nodded. "I feel it too. But it's not Daemon."

"Who could it be then?" Yolei asked, looking around worriedly.

"That doesn't matter now," TK said from the lead where he walked beside Tsukaimon. He glanced back at the group. "If it's here to attack any of us, we can just fight it off. Puppetmon and Piedmon are a couple of the most powerful digimon we've ever faced, and if that battle only lasted as long as it did with two digimon, I know we can make it through anything else the Dark World has to give."

In response to his words, a booming voice sounded from the dark fog in front of them. "I doubt you were expecting me, however."

The group tensed, staring hard into the blackness in front of them in an attempt to identify the speaker. Their efforts were rewarded by the appearance of a small light flickering through the cloud. Most of the children stared at it, seemingly mesmerized. Ken, however, instantly recognized their visitor. The increasing darkness, the foreboding, the familiar voice, the light… They all pointed to an old enemy, who confirmed his identity with one cry.

"Mental Illusion!"

Ken was the only one ready, and clamped his eyes shut as he threw his arms over his face. He was just in time, for the small point of light suddenly flashed to life and engulfed the children, brushing roughly past like a harsh wind. After a minute, it ended, but it was another several moments before Ken decided to take a peek at what happened. He felt his stomach knot up as he saw MaloMyotismon marching into view from the fog. A small hint of surprise crossed the digimon's face when he saw the raven-haired boy gazing back at him. Ken glanced around at the others and saw they were less prepared for the onslaught. They were staring off, eyes blank, bodies stiff, completely unresponsive to their partners' calls.

He faced MaloMyotismon. Already he had a slight advantage. His enemy wasn't prepared for any resistance, but the boy was still unsure of what to do. After all, MaloMyotismon was a mega, and DinoBeemon only an ultimate. It was almost suicide to attack such a creature, but Ken put that thought aside.

Davis had once broken through the illusion, and Ken didn't doubt that the digimon could do the same for their partners. He just had to hold the evil mega off until the others were freed.

"DinoBeemon! Get him!"

"Right away!" The ultimate replied, jumping forward to attack. Yet by then MaloMyotismon was ready and waiting. With a huge, sweeping arm, he swatted DinoBeemon out of the sky. Ken ran over to his fallen partner.

"Don't give up! We can still get him," he pleaded. "Please get up."

The digimon managed to stand, but was still hunched over. "I don't know how we're going to do this Ken. He's so powerful, and we're all so tired. I can't defeat him in my state."

"That is certainly true," came the deep voice of the evil digimon looming before them. "It is impressive you brats made it this far. It was more than Daemon expected. Would you believe he said that you children are helpful to him?"

No one replied. The raven-haired boy didn't feel like talking to an evil, deranged vampire demon.

"You've cleared out Dragomon. Daemon was planning on overthrowing him when the time came, but you kids managed to do it yourselves. Consider me Daemon's thank you gift. He had something much worse planned for you than this."

Ken saw MaloMyotismon prepare an attack, aiming at the rest of the immobilized Digidestined. The boy placed himself between them and the evil mega. He couldn't let this enemy harm his friends, but like DinoBeemon said, he didn't know what he could do. Maybe he could prolong the mega's attack. If only it would give the other digimon more time to get through to their partners.

MaloMyotismon let out his blow nevertheless, sending the blast toward the group. Ken shut his eyes again and didn't move from his spot. There was nothing else to do. Even if he tried to dodge, he wouldn't have gotten away in time. Gatomon's voice came from behind him, telling him that Angewomon had dedigivolved. Ken had a feeling she wasn't going to be the only one who would revert soon.

He felt the force of the coming attack push past him. He leaned into it, refusing to fall backwards, but was still driven to his knees. Ken made no attempt to move. Surprisingly, whatever the attack was doing, it wasn't harming him, or so it seemed that way at first. He had been kneeling for only an instant before he felt something spark within him. A burning sensation filled his chest and spread through his body, growing stronger each second. He was soon crying out at the feeling of raw power coursing through him. He suddenly heard his partner's voice coming from somewhere in front of him. It was what the digimon said next that was the most shocking of all.

"DinoBeemon mega digivolve to...GranKuwagamon!"

Ken's eyes snapped open and he jerked his head up to see his partner, now a huge mega, standing challengingly in front of MaloMyotismon. He had apparently absorbed the worst of the attack during the digivolution sequence. GranKuwagamon turned his large head to gaze down at Ken.

"You did it. I don't know how, but you did it. We have a chance."

Ken managed to smile despite his shock. Overcoming his speechlessness, he gave his first command to his new partner. "Finish him."

GranKuwagamon nodded and turned to his enemy. He charged on all fours and engaged MaloMyotismon. Completely caught off guard by the sudden development, the evil digimon didn't quite know what to do except to hold off GranKuwagamon for dear life. It turned into a wrestling match several minutes long, with Ken and the other digimon watching breathlessly. MaloMyotismon got the upper hand first, managing to shove his attacker away. Yet, it was that move that was his downfall. As he fell away, GranKuwagamon unleashed an attack.

"X-Scissor Claw!"

Razor-sharp blades cut through the evil digimon's torso, and that was all that was needed. MaloMyotismon was only crying out for a moment before he calmed himself and accepted his fate. He glared menacingly at the Digidestined as his body slowly dissolved.

"Do not gloat over your victory. All you have done has more than earned you Daemon's wrath. Enjoy your last walk as a group. No more shall enemies passed trouble you, for I am responsible for their resurrection. Daemon will come himself to finish you, and it will be a good riddance."

MaloMyotismon chuckled slowly and with finality as the last of his form melted and drifted away, and the illusion was broken off of the other children.

"Ken!" Came several voices from behind him. He turned to welcome his friends back to reality.

"Who was that?" Matt was the first to ask. Ken didn't have to answer. Kari did instead.

"MaloMyotismon?"

The raven-haired boy nodded.

"What? How can that be?" Yolei asked, and then paused as the answer came to mind. "Well, then again, I guess that makes sense. I was having the best dream of my life."

"So was I," TK said quietly. Kari nodded as well.

Sora smiled. "I was the tennis champ of the world…"

Matt was considerably paler than the others, so no one pressured him into talking. It was silent for a moment before Yolei let out a squeal and pointed.

"Who's that?"

Ken turned to see his mega partner standing above them, watching the conversation. He smiled at the others and couldn't keep a streak of pride out of his voice as he said, "That's GranKuwagamon, the mega form of DinoBeemon."

A small chorus of gasps came in reply. Matt smirked. "So you made it to mega. I doubt Davis will be happy about this. ExVeemon can't even get to ultimate without you."

Ken chuckled. "That's true. I think I'll save this guy for special situations like the one we're in now."

"How long were you fighting?"

"Fifteen minutes...half an hour at the most."

Several in the group raised an eyebrow and TK smiled. "Crazy. MaloMyotismon is the most powerful digimon we've ever encountered. I'm thinking anything else Daemon has to throw at us will be a piece of cake."

"Unless he comes out himself," Ken replied quietly. "Before he dissolved, MaloMyotismon told me we won't have to face anymore digimon we've already fought. Daemon's going to meet us himself."

"Hey, that makes things a lot clearer." Matt cut in. "All the digimon we've met that we've already defeated beforehand dissolved into darkness, right? Dragomon was the only one who dissolved into actual data."

Kari caught on. "That's because he hasn't already been deleted."

Matt nodded. "So all the other evil digimon are just projections made by the darkness. They weren't the real thing."

"But Daemon is the real thing," Ken added.

"So he'll be a lot harder to defeat than the MaloMyotismon Ken just got rid of," the blond concluded.

TK lowered his head. "Not to mention he was more powerful than MaloMyotismon to begin with."

Ken notice the group visibly sadden. MaloMyotismon was hard enough to beat when he was on the verge of covering the world in darkness. How much harder would Daemon be to defeat? Matt frowned at the other children.

"Come on guys. I doubt he was that much stronger than Apocalymon. I think we got this don't you?"

Ken and Yolei had never experienced the apocalyptic digimon, but the other kids brightened at the blond's words. New determination filled the group. TK nudged Tsukaimon.

"You're back on the spot, buddy."

The rookie took to flight at the suggestion. "This way."

"In a minute," Ken interrupted. He looked up to GranKuwagamon. "Give us a lift?"

The mega nodded and lowered one of his huge hands, letting the children climbe aboard. Tsukaimon chuckled and pointed in the direction opposite the ocean.

"Well then, if we're going by air, it's a straight flight that a way." GranKuwagamon too to flight, soaring speedily through the thickening atmosphere. The very sense of darkness told the group they were close. The purple rookie turned serious. "Brace yourselves guys. I can imagine Daemon's not too happy with us."

"I second that," Ken put in, MaloMyotismon's words crossing through his mind. Whatever horrors Daemon had planned for them, they were sure in for it now.

What do you think? Was I pushing it with GranKuwagamon?

Review please! I like to know how I'm doing! If you don't like something just say so and I'll work on it.

See you all next chapter