Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Or Heroes of Olympus. One day... One day...

Author's Note: Written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge found on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges forum. The prompt for this chapter is "enthusiasm".

As most of you guessed, the identity of the two figures from the previous chapter were indeed the Devas. However, they are not the Devas that you all remember from Tamers. To make sure that this was clear, I have completely reworked their personality while still keeping some of their most notable qualities. So, my plan was to keep the fact that they were different digimon quite apparent while still keeping them related because they're the same species. Hopefully, I succeeded! And hopefully you...

Enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen

Ken didn't like these guys. Halsemon swooped to a halt in midair. Nefertimon came to a gliding stop next to them, wings beating against the air current beneath her. They exchanged a look that Ken recognized. They were trying to decide whether or not they should attack.

"Hold up, guys," Takato said, apparently having noticed the exchange as well. It was probably a good call. Ken doubted that the monkey and chicken would take kindly to getting attacked.

"I don't like this," Cody said. "They look armored."

At first, Ken thought he was right, but as the digimon got closer, he could see that they didn't look like any armor digimon he had ever seen before. The monkey was about the size of a child with a purple hat on his head and a red scarf that ran down behind his ears like hair. He had brown fur and wore white pants with silver armor on his chest and wrists. The chicken he rode upon was bright gold save for his red feathered mohawk and purple body. His tail feathers shimmered with the colors of the rainbow.

The digimon pulled up in front of the digidestined and hovered there, looking ready to attack.

The chicken cawed. "No clearance."

"Excuse me?" Armadillomon said.

"Lord Baihumon does not have any appointments today," explained the monkey. His voice was so high-pitched that it grated on Ken's ears. "You don't have a permit to fly these skies. You are trespassing!"

"Destroy them!" The chicken showed off what Ken guessed was supposed to be a grin.

Halsemon and Nefertimon reared back, ready to defend them. Ken reached for his D-3, but Davis cried, "Whoa! Hold on! Who are these guys!?"

"Yeah, don't we at least get to know who has the honor of destroying us?" Veemon asked.

"Sinduramon!" the chicken cawed.

"He is Sinduramon," the monkey clarified. "He doesn't talk much, so you'll be talking with me!"

"And, uh, who exactly are you?" Veemon asked.

Ken leaned to the side to look around Yolei as he tried not to get distracted by the scent of lavender coming from her hair. Takato still had his digivice out, and the holographic image had changed. A picture of Sinduramon hovered over the little device with his name spelled out below it. Takato raised his digivice a bit, changing its aim, and the picture changed to the monkey digimon. Below the picture was the name Makuramon.

"I am Makuramon!" the monkey said. "You may call me Makuramon. And the pretty purple-haired lady there—" He pointed at Yolei before doing something with his eye that Ken realized was meant to be a wink. "She can call me whatever she likes. Perhaps you'd like to smooch with a real 'mon before we destroy you?"

Yolei made a sound like choking on spit. "That's… a truly awful thought."

"No more awful than being destroyed!" Makuramon waggled his eyebrows. "C'mon… We Devas can be pretty romantic!"

"Devas?" Takato cut in, looking a bit woozy suddenly. "I… I know Devas…"

"Makuramon, have we met before?" Guilmon asked.

"I'd remember a face as ugly as yours!" Makuramon insulted, but he still looked pleased. "But that means you must have heard of us before! No surprise. We are pretty amazing. We are Lord Baihumon's gatekeepers. So, you understand. We can't have people just showing up unannounced. It would be chaos!"

"Chaos!" Sinduramon echoed.

"Which is sadly why, unless this is an emergency, we will have to destroy you painfully."

"Reap! Win! Destroy!" Sinduramon agreed, with a little more enthusiasm than Ken thought necessary.

"Wait!" Cody said. "This is an emergency."

"Yeah, we're on an urgent mission to save a friend!" Armadillomon added.

Makuramon continued to study Yolei as if she had been the one to speak. "And how does the pretty girl decide this is an emergency, hm?"

Yolei blinked. "Uh… is he talking to me?"

"Yolei!" Davis hissed. "Say something!"

She sat up. "Oh. Right. Uh… We have to see Baihumon! It's totally urgent! Please?" She forced a smile, which Ken figured must've been killing her; but she looked fresh-faced and gorgeous, and Ken thought she looked great. She batted her eyelashes behind her glasses, too – and Ken found himself believing every word. He suddenly wished he was the one she was batting her eyelashes at.

Makuramon picked at Sinduramon's mohawk almost bashfully. "Well… I'd love to help the pretty lady, but Caturamon would have puppies if we allowed you—"

"And our digimon are tired!" Yolei added. "They could de-digivolve any minute!"

Halsemon and Nefertimon shared a confused look before belatedly catching on. They let out fake groans and dropped a few feet in the air.

"So… tired…" Halsemon whimpered.

"Need… rest…" Nefertimon begged.

Makuramon pondered the problem. Then he gave Yolei another twitchy wink. "Well, you are pretty. I mean, you're right. Tired digimon about to drop pretty girl out of sky, this could be an emergency!"

"Destroy later?" Sinduramon offered hopefully.

"It will take some explaining," Makuramon decided. "Lord Baihumon has not been kind to visitors lately. But, yes. Come, pretty girl – I mean, digidestined. Follow us.

The Devas turned and swooped toward the steel building's roof.

Yolei shuddered once they were out of earshot. "I am officially scarred."

"I don't like these guys," Halsemon said.

"Well, we don't have much of a choice." Cody turned toward Yolei an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Yolei. Looks like you're our in."

"Oh, great."

"Well, should we follow them?" Nefertimon asked.

Nobody looked eager.

"I guess," Ken decided. "We're here now, and Baihumon is our only lead. But I wonder why he hasn't been taking visitors."

"He just hasn't met us yet," Davis said. "After that flying monkey!"

x X x

As they got closer, Ken worried they'd crash into the roof of the building. The Devas made right for the flat box roof and didn't slow down. Then the middle of the roof parted, like hangar bay doors, revealing an entrance just wide enough for them to enter single file. Each parting door was jagged like teeth.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Nefertimon muttered, but she and Halsemon dove downward, swooping into the building after the Devas.

Ken expected them to land in a gigantic warehouse, but they actually ended up in what appeared to be some sort of ballroom. The only difference was that every little thing was made of steel. The hall had vaulted ceilings forty feet high, huge draped windows, and lush oriental carpets. Dual staircases that mirrored each other at the end of the room led up to a balcony that branched off into corridors both left and right. But the steel made the ballroom seem very suffocating despite its size. As Ken slid off Halsemon, the carpet did not give under his feet. The massive columns holding the ceiling up looked like lead pipes. The curtains didn't budge, because they – too – were just a steel interpretation of what was supposed to be there. The sunlight streaming through the windows seemed to bounce off of everything in a weird warped light brought on by the sunset.

"Okay," Davis said, "does anybody else find this place a little creepy?"

"Me." Ken looked uneasily at the dual staircases. "Something feels wrong. Something up there…"

"Agreed," Halsemon said. His talons clawed at the ground nervously as if wanting to take off once more.

"No, no, no." Makuramon, no longer riding Sinduramon, marched over. "You digimon must de-digivolve! We can't have armor digimon in here. The Lord will not be pleased!"

Nefertimon and Halsemon shared a look.

"It's okay." Kari placed a hand gently on Nefertimon's neck and locked gazes with her. "Go ahead. We're guests here. We have to follow their rules." She looked over at Yolei. "Right?"

"Uh…" Yolei did not seem to like that idea at all, but she nervously nodded. "Right."

A moment passed before Nefertimon and Halsemon finally gave in. Then they were engulfed in pink and red light before shrinking down into their forms of Gatomon and Hawkmon.

"Happy?" Gatomon asked.

"Oh, I sure hope this isn't a trap…" Hawkmon said under his breath.

"Don't worry!" Veemon said cheerfully. "If anything happens, Wormmon and I will have your back."

Wormmon opened his mouth to agree when Makuramon suddenly ordered, "Stop!"

He and Sinduramon surrounded Veemon.

Veemon raised his hands. "I didn't mean it?"

Hawkmon groaned. "I just had to say something."

"Who are you?" Makuramon summoned a crystal-looking ball in his hands that he looked about ready to throw at Veemon's head if he didn't say the right thing. "An agent of the enemy sent to spy on us?"

"I'm Veemon! Also known as Veemon!" He sent a nervous look toward Davis. "Little help here, pal?"

Davis stepped forward. "Look, I don't know who you're confusing him for, but—"

Sinudramon let out a strangled croaking sound that Ken realized was meant to be a growl. He put his face up to Davis's, which had Davis leaning as far back as he could without losing his balance. "Smell. Recognize the scent. Smell is bad."

"Hey, I do not smell!"

Ken's heart raced in his chest. He didn't know what these guys were talking about, but he knew that this was going downhill and fast. He stepped forward, his eyes moving from Makuramon to Sinduramon. "Look, there's been a mistake. Whatever you think you smell… Davis and Veemon are not your enemy."

"Yeah, they're our friends!" Wormmon said.

"Makuramon?" Yolei tried her dazzling smile again, but she looked a little too nervous to completely pull it off. "We're all friends here. Let's just talk about this."

"The girl has very pretty hair," Makuramon admitted, "and of course she wants me! But I cannot romance you at this time, my sweet."

Yolei made that choking sound again, which Ken covered up with a few coughs. He glanced at Wormmon, wondering how quickly he could digivolve, but he knew it would take him five seconds at least. By then, that crystal orb in Makuramon's hand probably would have blasted Davis and Veemon into next week.

"Destroy now!" Sinduramon said.

"No." Takato's sudden voice sounded calm enough, but Ken figured he was about two seconds away from having Guilmon go into full samurai mode. "Davis is a digidestined, and Veemon is his partner. They're no threat. I'm Takato, and this is my partner Guilmon. We're on a peaceful…"

Takato's voice faltered as both Devas suddenly turned on him.

"Guilmon, did you say?" Makuramon demanded.

"That's me!" Guilmon said.

"I know of no Guilmon, and we Devas know all Digimon everywhere."

"Well…" Takato said, "you obviously just haven't met Guilmon yet. We're friendly. Really."

"A digimon never heard of before…" Makuramon said, sounding almost regretful. "You two might be the ones we've been watching for."

"Watching for?" Veemon asked. "You mean in a good way: he's about to get a prize for being your millionth customer? Or watching for in a bad way: he's in trouble?"

Takato and Guilmon shared a nervous look.

A voice from behind them said, "That depends on Lord Baihumon's will."

Ken spun around. Standing at the bottom of the staircase stood a large blue dog-like digimon covered in armor. A purple scarf draped around his neck, and he had gold accents along his eyebrows and his front and hind legs. His eyes held no expression and were made of ruby red jewels. He focused on the digidestined with a full grin of canine teeth that seemed almost painted on and held no friendliness. Ken found himself holding his breath.

Then he looked at Takato and Guilmon and seemed to understand the situation immediately.

"Lord Baihumon will want to see the one called Guilmon and his partner," the dog said. "Makuramon, bring our guests."

Ken exchanged a nervous look with Yolei, and Wormmon jumped into his arms. He wasn't sure what all of this was about, but he knew that they couldn't back out now. Before they could take a step, the dog turned and glared at Davis and Veemon, freezing them both with a look.

"Not you two," he said.

"Why not?" Veemon sounded like a whiny kindergartner, but Ken couldn't blame him. He didn't like this anymore than he did.

"Lord Baihumon no longer trusts the smell of friendship," the dog said. "The Digiegg of Friendship that you possess… he created it, and it has turned on him. He would destroy you in a second if you tried to speak with him."

"But I didn't turn on anybody," Davis said weakly.

"We're going together," Ken insisted, putting his hand on Davis's shoulder, "or not at all."

The dog tilted his head, like he was confused by the strange human behavior of disobeying an order. "He won't be harmed, Child of Kindness, unless you make trouble. Sinduramon, keep Davis Motomiya and Veemon here. Guard them, but do not destroy them."

Ken exchanged a look with Davis, asking him a silent question that he knew he would understand: What do you want us to do?

He could see the emotions crossing Davis's face as he considered their situation. The others waited patiently, obviously ready to fight for Davis if that's what it came down to. He knew that Davis was grateful, but he also knew that his best friend was a lot more logical than most gave him credit for. He knew that they were out powered with three ultimates in the room and with no access to DNA Digivolution. Those Devas meant business.

"It's fine, guys," he said finally. "No sense causing trouble if we don't have to."

Veemon crossed his arms and puffed out his chest. "Yeah, you all go ahead. We'll be fine down here!"

"Listen to your friends," the dog digimon said. "Veemon and his partner will be perfectly safe. I wish I could say the same for the rest of you. Now, come. Lord Baihumon is waiting."