Chapter 22: Confrontation

I woke up to the sounds of knocking on my door, before I could even get out of bed, Psychemon rushed to open the door, it was Jason and Commandramon, I rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes, "Hey Kate," Jason greeted, "I was going to let you sleep in a little, you know… after the day you'd had, but Commandramon here insisted I needed everyone up and going," He said, shooting a look at Commandramon.

Commandramon looked to his partner, "We need all of our troops ready for the attack on Rex's castle Jason, sleep is a privilege not a right," He said, I would have even said he did so with a hint of sarcasm had I thought him capable of it.

I slowly got out of my bed, stretching a little before following Jason out of the inn, there the other three tamers and their respective Digimon stood waiting for us, "About time Kate decided to join us," Bridget said.

I just rolled my eyes before taking a good look around, it seemed every Digimon in this small village had decided to join us on this attack, some even carried flags baring what I assumed was the Nightmare Soldier's crest, Karatenmon approached us, "Everyone's ready, my troops will buy you guys time to confront the king," He said.

It was as much of a plan as I'd expected really, it felt so weird being so close to ending this… it was something I hadn't really even thought about until now, I couldn't help but turn my eyes to Psychemon, who was clearly avoiding making eye contact with the other Nightmare Soldiers, I had grown quite fond of Psychemon over this adventure, he was almost like a little brother to me at this point, the thought we'd soon be parting ways bothered me a little, but we had to stop Rex, and I did have a life waiting for me back home.

I put the thought out of my head for now, I needed to focus on Rex, I doubted we'd be able to just waltz into his castle and beat the crap out of him, no we'd have to fight our way in, but we'd overcome it just like everything else.

Everyone then began their march towards Rex's castle, it was weird having an entire army behind us, the sounds of their marching feet constantly reminding us of their presence, I tried my best not to let the pressure get to me, I was about to go to war, and I was still the weakest link here, I couldn't Digivolve Psychemon, and after the whole Astamon thing I wasn't sure I even wanted to Digivolve him again, I hated being the weak one of the group, I had always prided myself on being self reliant, but everything I had known about life had gone out the window the second we came to this insane world.

After a little bit of walking, I began to notice something, where were Rex's troops? Were we that far out from Rex's controlled territory? Or where they seriously not expecting us? All I could see were empty villages, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It was unsettling to say the least, "Where is everyone?" I asked no one in particular.

Bridget looked around a bit, "We're definitely in Rex's territory, I remember walking through here several times while I served him, this isn't right, there should be guards everywhere," She said, this only making me feel more anxious, if anyone would know about Rex's territory, it's Bridget, and if she found it off, something was seriously wrong.

Suddenly a figure approached, it was clearly female, but also clearly not human as her arms were unnaturally long, her left arm in particular was malformed and twisted, her body was covered in tight black leather that was torn in some places revealing her ghastly white complexion.

The woman crossed her arms, "Well well, isn't this a treat? The Digidestined aligned with Karatenmon's little freedom fighters, is this really how desperate you've gotten little birdie? Relaying on humans to do your grunt work?" She mocked.

Karatenmon moved to the front of the group, "LadyDevimon, still acting as one of the Digimon King's pawns I see," He said, "I hope it was worth betraying your own people just to be a lap dog to that mad king," He added with venom in his voice, I could see him moving his hands over his swords, as if expecting her to suddenly launch an attack.

LadyDevimon let out a dry cackle, "Betrayed them? I simply saw the writing on the wall bird brain, Rex can't be stopped, everyone in the Digital World knows that, I saved our people! While you sentenced the rest to their deaths! So who's the real traitor here?" She snapped back. She then turned her attention to us, most notably Psychemon, "And what's this now? Oh this is a treat! The once great Demon Prince Astamon seems to have settled for being a pet to this gaudy little gutter trash girl," She laughed.

Gutter trash?! The hell does she have any room to talk about looking trashy? "Well at least I'm not deformed," I said as a come back, but LadyDevimon simply laughed it off, like a stereotypical mean girl.

LadyDevimon then suddenly appeared right in front of me, so quickly I couldn't even jump back in surprise before she grabbed me by the throat, "Well aren't we the little spitfire? I do love someone with spirit! It makes it all the more fun when I crush them!" She said, beginning to squeeze, all I could do was struggle for air, her grip was like a vice, slowly closing on my throat.

However, "CROW SWORDS!" Suddenly LadyDevimon's arm was slashed, the surprise and pain enough to force her to let me go, causing me to fall to the ground, Karatenmon stood in front of me, "Picking on defenseless humans, you really haven't changed at all LadyDevimon," He said, did he have to use the word "defenseless"? As If I were a wilting flower, unable to stand on her own two feet.

LadyDevimon clasped her slashed arm, "So… even after Astamon tried to kill us all, you still serve him blindly, protecting his little pet human," She mocked.

Karatenmon braced his swords, "I am sworn to protect the prince, and that extends to his tamer, it's called loyalty, you should try it some time," He said.

The other tamers began their Digivolution sequences, all except me… for obvious reasons, LadyDevimon however, wasn't intimidated despite being grossly outnumbered, "Oh isn't this precious, you can Digivolve your pets, well… all except one of you," She said giving me a snide look, "But do you really think I'd come here alone?" She added before suddenly Digimon of all kinds began to spring from seemingly nowhere! There had to be thousands of them! Karatenmon looked to us, "GO! We'll handle LadyDevimon and her minions! You all need to take down the king!" He said.

Jason didn't like this plan, "No way! We can't just abandon you guys!" He objected, but Karatenmon was clearly not willing to hear it, as he just charged LadyDevimon.

Bridget wasted no time, hopping on Okamimon's back, "Follow me, I know where he's probably hiding," She said. Jason was clearly hesitant, but realized he was outnumbered here, getting on Tankdramon, who wheeled him in Okamimon's direction.

The others followed suit, one by one, however, Psychemon couldn't help but look back at his friend Karatenmon, who was currently engaged in battle with LadyDevimon, I felt horrible about leaving him and the other Nightmare Soldiers to the mercy of Rex's army, but there was nothing I could do… I was after all, the weakest link…

I heard the sounds of large feet approach, "Come on Kate! Before Rex's cronies notice we're bailing!" Ethan said, I turned around to see him on Gaogamon, offering a hand up, Psychemon and I got on Gaogamon and ran off to follow the others, you know if you'd have told me a month ago I'd be riding into battle on the back of a giant blue dog wearing boxing gloves alongside a Canadian, I'd have called you crazy…

Gaogaomon was surprisingly fast for his size, catching up with Okamimon in no time flat, in fact the slowest of the group was Jason, Tankdramon, despite being a Digimon, was still a tank, and tanks weren't known for their blazing fast speeds. "So what are we going to do? Burst through the front door?" Ethan asked Bridget.

Bridget shook her head, "He'll have it guarded, Rex is always paranoid, there's a back entrance we can use, only his top generals know about it," She said, of course Rex's castle had a secret passageway, he needed to mark it off his list of villain cliches.

Speaking of cliché, Rex's castle was coming into view, and my god was it so stereotypical and evil I half expected lighting to strike it, I guess subtlety wasn't in Rex's vocabulary. However, oddly Bridget and Okamimon stopped suddenly, Gaogamon caught by surprise so much he had to scramble to stop his momentum. "What's going on? Why'd we stop?" Asked Gaogamon.

However, Okamimon said nothing, pressing his paw on a gathering of rocks, almost as if they were a key pad on a security system, suddenly the ground began to rumble and the ground began to part, revealing a tunnel, "I did say it was a secret back entrance," Bridget pointed out. Okamimon and her went into the tunnel, Gaogamon following suit with a quite audible growl.

The tunnel itself was pitch black, how any of his troops managed to traverse this tunnel was anyone's guess, however it didn't stay dark for long as Tankdramon apparently had headlights, because of course he did. "This tunnel is meant to be used by Rex's generals to escape into in emergencies, it has entrances from several points in the Digital World, this happens to be the only one I know of," Bridget began to explain.

You know, having one of Rex's generals as an ally was proving to be quite useful, even if Bridget was still a bit of a sour person overall. It wasn't long before we were met with a large wooden trap door, Bridget pushed it open and we all one by one managed to get through it, yes even Tankdramon somehow managed to get through, I never really thought about it that much, but Tankdramon's form was really inconvenient when you really stopped to think about it.

However it soon became clear we were not alone, "Well well, at last we meet face to face Digidestined," a gruff, but stern voice said, we all looked to see a human man walking down the stairs of the room, he was tall, his face showing signs of age, he looked to be in his early forties if I were to hazard a guess, he wore a long black trench coat with red studded straps all over, his eyes were a glowing, piercing red.

This had to be Rex, who else could it possibly be, "You children have really caused me quite a bit of trouble, cutting off the Metal Empire from me, invigorating the rebellion against me, and even turning my queen against me, but I'm afraid your little rebellion is at an end," He snarled.

Gaogamon bent down, letting us know he wanted us to get off, we all did so, "It's over Rex! Despite being the king you're still only human! You can't hope to beat us!" He said, you know… Gaogamon had a point, despite all his power, he was still just a human at the end of the day, this was probably going to be a very anticlimactic fight.

However, Rex just laughed, a loud, heavy cackle that echoed off the empty walls of the room, "Is that what you think? Did Bridget not tell you? I may look human, I may have even been human at one point, but what you see before you is purely digital, an avatar of sorts," He explained, "You see… three years ago, I was a wealthy business man, head to a technology firm Nexion Incorporated, we had contracts with businesses, military, I suppose you could say I was as powerful there as I am here," He added with a laugh. "Our biggest project was Project Lazarus, a system that would allow a human being to upload their own consciousness into data form, it would have revolutionized computing..." he added.

However his face suddenly grew grim, "But then… I was diagnosed with lung cancer, suddenly everything I had worked for began slipping from my hands, some envious higher ups decided to use this as an excuse to take MY company away! My life's work all stolen from me! So… I decided to use Project Lazarus to… save myself, my body lay dying in the real world as my consciousness existed in data form, my original intention was to use my data form to freeze Nexion Inc's assets and have the banks take the company right out from under those fools, but… when I created this avatar, I had somehow wound up here… in the Digital World," He explained.

Rex began to pace the room as he continued his story, "I was at first confused, I aimlessly wandered this odd and strange world, until I happened upon someone, he claimed he could sense my thirst for power, and offered to quench it, he told me if I merged with him, I could take the Digital World, and soon even the human world! Power unlimited! How could I refuse, so he and I became one! And that, my dear Digidestined, is why I allowed you to find me," He said.

Bridget seemed the most take aback by that last comment, which Rex seemed to find amusing, "Oh what? You thought you were being clever by using the back entrance Ms. Shuno? Please, a brain dead dog could have seen that coming," He said, his body began to glow with a dark, sinister energy, "And now… you all die," He said before his form began to change, almost as if Digivolving.

The energy subsided, revealing the form of what appeared to be a dark angel of some kind, his face was thin and young, almost like a fairy tale prince, he wore black clothing with golden trim that matched his long golden hair, he had several wings that jutted out of his back, half were white, feathered like an angle, the other half were black bat wings, I assumed this was the form of the Digimon Rex was talking about, the one he supposedly merged with.

But it seemed that Psychemon knew this Digimon, "Lucemon!" He blurted out in a mix of shock and horror. What are the odds? The evil Digimon Rex merged with was also the same one that turned Astamon into a monster!

Lucemon laughed, "It's good to see you haven't forgotten me Astamon, after all I was the one that made you into the monster that helped me take over the Nightmare Soldiers, you have my thanks," He said, god I wanted to punch his smug face, but I knew I wouldn't be able to even phase him.

Tankdramon suddenly readied his guns, "I've heard enough of this! We're going to stop you Lucemon! Right here! Right now!" He said before firing his many guns at him.

Each one hit it's mark, Lucemon not even trying to dodge them, but when the smoke from the explosions cleared, Lucemon was still standing there, mockingly brushing dust off his shoulder, "Cute, in a way I'm glad you've chosen to by defiant to the end, it's been a while since I've gotten to kill anything myself," He said.

Suddenly he cocked his fist back "PARADISE LOST PUNCH!" He cried before connecting a huge uppercut to Tankdramon, sending him flying through the air, and crashing into the far wall, everyone in the room was in shock, Tankdramon was one of our most powerful Digimon, and Lucemon had basically taken him out in one shot, "Next," He said mockingly.

Gaogaomon launched himself at Lucemon, "DOUBLE DASH CLAW!" The attack did little more than annoy Lucemon, before Lucemon grabbed Gaogamon by the throat and slammed him into the ground, creating a giant crater, Gaogamon lay twitching unnervingly on the ground.

Lucemon let a laugh escape his lips, "Is this seriously the best you can do? I'm quite disappointed, I thought you'd at least put up a fight!" He mocked, my heart began to race, we were grossly outmatched here! It was beginning to look like death was less a possibility and more an inevitability!

Aquilamon was next, as he launched his own attack "GLIDE HORN!" The bird dive bombed horn first at Lucemon, who simply caught his horn in his right hand, then delivering a hard gut punch to the avian Digimon and tossing him aside like garbage.

Okamimon didn't even wait as he launched his fire disc attack at Lucemon, who deflected it with a simple back hand, "To think I let you become my second in command," Lucemon scoffed before hitting Okamimon with a rather graceful roundhouse kick to the dome, and with that, me and Psychemon were the only ones left standing. "And then there was one, the weakest link..." He mused.

I was terrified, more terrified than I had ever been in my life, this horrible looming figure that had every intention of killing me where I stood, and Psychemon helpless to stop it, but he stood between me and Lucemon regardless, "Oh please Psychemon, not even your little friends could stop me, what hope do you have?" He said.

Psychemon stood his ground though, a spark beginning to form from his magenta horn, "I don't care if I'm the weakest Digimon here! I won't sit here and let you hurt my friends!" He said, "COLORFUL SPARKLE!" He cried as the electricity from his horn fired at Lucemon, the spark harmlessly bouncing off the Digimon King's head.

Lucemon grew a sly smirk, "Tell my Psychemon, how does it feel to be the reason I was able to take your faction over? To have so much blood on your hands?" He said, Psychemon was beginning to lose confidence, as he began to shrink inwards, "You've become such a pathetic little creature since we last met, whimpering and trembling like a scolded child, a former demon prince reduced to nothing more than a lost child desperate for approval, too weak to even defend his worthless tamer," He mocked.

I felt my fear slowly being replaced with anger, this bastard was mocking Psychemon for something he did to him! "And who's the bastard that did that to him? You took advantage of his desperation to save his people! If anything that blood is on your hands not his!" I yelled, Psychemon was the victim here! Just another life among millions ruined by this heartless bastard!

Lucemon raised an eyebrow, "Semantics at best, I merely provided the power he asked from me, it's not my fault he became overwhelmed by it," He corrected me, this son of a bitch! I hated the Digimon King from the second I had heard about him, but now… every fiber of my being wanted him to pay for what he had done to Psychemon, the Digital World, my friends, everything!

But I knew what would happen if I let my anger get the best of me, I couldn't do that to Psychemon again, even if this jackass deserved it, I wouldn't let him get the better of me like that, "I think I've finally figured out what kind of person you are, ever since I first heard of you, I had wondered what would drive someone to cause this much pain to so many Digimon, heartlessly killing millions just to gain power, but now… I know… there's just… nothing inside you… you're incapable of feeling remorse of guilt, you're just empty… hateful," I said.

Lucemon seemed unfazed by my words, but I continued anyways, "You're just a heartless monster, devoid of love, caring, or even guilt, but me on the other hand, I have a whole world counting on me, and I care enough to at least try to help them, show them the love and care you've denied them with your heartless war! Even if Psychemon and I are too weak to stop you, we'll try anyway! I won't give up! Because my love for my friends is all the strength I need to stand and fight!" I said, I didn't even know where this all came from, some burning passion inside me just sort of burst forward.

I felt a warmth from the pocket my Digivice sat in, I instinctively removed it from my pocket, "Digispirit! FULL CHARGE!" I cried out, the rush of Digi-Spirit was exhilarating, almost like a rush of adrenaline…

Psychemon began to glow, changing form, I knew I should probably be concerned about this, but something within me was telling me it was different this time, despite the fact the form he was taking was clearly Astamon given the shape, "Psychemon warp Digivolve too.. ASTAMON!" He cried out confirming he was indeed retaking the form of the demon prince.

When the light subsided, Astamon stood proud and firm, I felt a nervous tinge in my heart, fearing I had once again unleashed the out of control Astamon onto the world once more, but yet… the look on his face wasn't the wild, violent look he had last time, he looked down at me "I… I'm on control? How?" He questioned, had I just… cured him? How?

Even Lucemon seemed stunned by this, "Impossible! My dark energy should have completely corrupted that form!" He said, now I was feeling a little more confident, Lucemon seemed legitimately worried by the fact Astamon was now completely free of his influence.

Astamon twirled his tommygun in his hand, "I guess Kate's spirit is stronger than your evil magic Lucemon, sucks for you," He said before he began to fire at him, the bullets causing the evil Digimon to stumble backwards and into a wall.

Lucemon however, recovered quickly, answering back with a hard right hook, "Don't get cocky! I'm still far more powerful than you!" He snarled back, the two began to exchange blows, it was quite the confidence boost to see my partner being the one to actually stand toe to toe with Lucemon after how effortlessly he had been manhandling the others, I might actually do this!

It was clear that Astamon was beginning to get the upper hand, as he hit Lucemon with a huge roundhouse kick, knocking him through the door and into the throne room. "Not so confident now that you've met someone stronger than you huh your Majesty?" Astamon said, even mockingly bowing to him, it seemed Astamon still had that confident arrogance that he had when he was out of control, it was still alien seeing Psychemon act like that, but it was less upsetting knowing he was still in the driver's seat.

Lucemon was clearly furious, as he had a crazed look on his face that showed he was indeed becoming quite unraveled, "You'll pay for this insult! I am the most powerful Digimon in the Digital World! You cannot defeat me!" He yelled, words that rang hollow as he was the one hunched over in pain right now.

The two began to exchange blows again, both were starting to show signs of wear as the beatings they gave one another began to take their toll, however, "MAVERICK!" Astamon said as he delivered the mother of all high kicks, nailing Lucemon right in the temple, causing his legs to buckle from under him, ironically falling right into his throne, defeated.

Astamon panted a bit, clearly worn from his fight, before lifting his tommy gun, "Now… to make sure you never hurt anyone again!" He said before pressing it right against the Digimon King's forehead, but before he could execute Lucemon another figure suddenly interfered, tossing Astamon aside.

It at first glance was a human woman, but it was clear this was another Digimon, she was adorned in a purple feudal Japanese robe over a black skintight cat suit, her hair was done up in a similar Japanese style but with a clear demonic twist, she wore a confident face, "Now now, I can't have you kill Lord Lucemon just yet," She said before turning to me, "You humans are becoming more trouble than your worth, don't think you've won yet little girl," She said before grabbing Lucemon's unconscious body and vanishing in a black mist.

Suddenly I felt my body give in, falling to my knees in exhaustion, something had taken all my energy, but I didn't hit the ground as Astamon quickly caught me, "You okay Kate?" He asked me. I gave him a weak nod and he scooped me up, carrying me back to the room the others were in.

The others were carrying their no de-digivolved Digimon, they were all of course shocked to see Astamon carrying me, "It's okay guys, I'm still me, Kate got rid of Lucemon's corruption when she unlocked her Digi-Spirit," He explained.

Thankfully the others believed him, "So… what happened to Lucemon? Is he dead?" Ethan asked.

However Astamon shook his head, "No, some woman came and teleported him away before I could finish him," He explained. Everyone let out an annoyed groan, knowing our battle wasn't over yet, who was that woman anyway? I had a feeling we'd find out eventually…

Meanwhile…

My eyes weakly opened, my body was hurting from head to toe, how the hell was Astamon able to beat me? Was the power of that girl really enough for him to overpower me? I looked at my hand to see I was Rex again, but the surroundings I found myself in where completely unfamiliar, a dark, dank cave from the looks of it.

"Well well, look who's finally awake,"

I quickly turned my head to see a woman standing before me, the name "Lilithmon" suddenly pinged in the back of my head, letting me know this was one of Lucemon's cohorts, "I must say… LordLucemon has excellent taste in men," she mused, I was going to pretend I didn't just hear that.

I decided to cut right to the chase, "Where am I?" I asked, my head was throbbing, that last kick to the head had really done a number on my head, it felt like I had been hit by a truck.

Lilithmon helped me to my feet, "You're in the darkest recesses of the Digital World, the Cave of Darkness as we like to call it," She explained, "It seems our plans to conquer the Digital World have failed," She added with a hint of disappointment in her voice. "So now it's time for plan B" she said before leading me down a tunnel.

The demon woman lead me to a room with a glowing blue crystal in it's center, circling the room where several other Digimon, who Lucemon had proceeded to hint at me where his fellow Demon Lords, "What is… Plan B?" I asked.

Lilithmon grew a wicked smirk, "Well if the human world insists on interfering with our plans, I think it's time we struck it directly," She said, it didn't take a genius to understand what she meant.

The crystal then showed an image to Earth, "You mean take it over?" I asked, it made sense, if I couldn't have the Digital World, the real one would have to suffice.

Lilithmon let out a small giggle, "Why not strike the Digidestined right where it hurts? Destroy everything they care for, and teach them what happens when you interfere with the great Demon Lords?" She said.

I thought about it, I had little attachment to the human world anymore, a world that had spurned me so, taken everything from me, twice! "How do we get there?" I asked.

Lilithmon's eyes lit up, excited I was going along with her plan, "I have a plan in place, but you need to regain your power, me and the other demon lords will take care of the human world until you can claim your place as it's supreme ruler," She said.

The thought of being sidelined like this insulted me a little, but I knew I was in no condition for conquest right now, so I agreed, once those foolish children see what is waiting for them back home… they'll wish they had never interfered with the Digimon King…

A/N: Oh noez! It seems Rex has decided to shift his evil intentions to the real world! What is Lilithmon's plan to get there? Will our heroes be able to stop them? Find out whenever I decide to update this story again…