Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I do not own Heroes of Olympus.

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

Also written for July's Camp Nano. This chapter brings me to 9,854/40,000. Getting sick right in the midst of this was the worst thing ever! I'm working hard to try to get back on track, but I am definitely behind. Not by too much, though. But still enough to get me nervous. I hope you...

Enjoy!

Chapter Forty-Three

The plan went wrong almost immediately. Kari and Cody scrambled along the ridge, trying to keep their heads down, with Gatomon and Armadillomon following as silently as possible. Ken, Davis, Takato, and Yolei snuck back into the cover of the woods to have their digimon digivolve. A few seconds later, Stingmon, Aquilamon, ExVeemon, and WarGrowlmon flew straight into the clearing. Yolei rode fearlessly on the back of Aquilamon, which Ken thought made her look absolutely beautiful and quite striking – like an Amazonian warrior.

Ken, Davis, and Takato had less of an impressive entrance as they simply jogged to keep up, but that didn't seem to deter Takato any. He ran ahead, cards in one hand and his D-Power in the other, before pointing dramatically at the Demon Lord. "Barbamon!"

Barbamon turned slowly, as if only mildly interested as to what was suddenly happening in his clearing. Then he grinned, revealing fangs like a saber-toothed tiger's.

"Well," Barbamon said, his voice as smooth as silk. "I'm almost surprised."

Ken didn't like the sound of that. His hand closed around his D-3. He stepped sideways, edging his way to the opposite direction of Tai, trying to keep Barbamon and Lucemon's attention on them.

Lucemon raised a single eyebrow at them. "It seems you have guests, Barbamon. That's my cue to leave you to it."

He waved his hand, and a dark portal appeared. His eyes flashed behind Barbamon, to where Ken saw a flash of pink from Kari's backpack before she ducked into the brush, and he held his breath. Lucemon seemed to consider whether or not to say anything before he simply smirked and stepped into the portal before disappearing.

Barbamon raised his staff high above his head, and the red orb in the skull's mouth began to glow.

"That doesn't look good," Stingmon said.

"Scatter!" Davis yelled.

"Dark Inferno!"

Davis and Takato dove to the left as the Demon Lord shot out fire from his staff – a blast so hot that it turned the earth on the ground into volcanic rock. Yolei and Aquilamon shot into the air like a bullet. Ken dodged behind a large bolder. He waited for the heat to dissipate, then he ran to the right, making sure with every movement that he was keeping Barbamon's attention away from the side of the clearing where Tai still hung helplessly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw WarGrowlmon charge toward Barbamon with Takato following recklessly. ExVeemon dusted the dirt off his knees from when he hit the deck to avoid the flames and glared toward Barbamon. "What does he think this is? A barbeque?" Then he took the air and charged in, too.

Before they could get very far – and before Davis could join them – Barbamon slammed his staff into the ground. "Pandemonium Lost!" The entire mountain shook.

The shockwave sent Ken sprawling. He blinked, momentarily stunned. Through a haze of grassfire and bitter smoke, he saw that Aquilamon and Yolei had been knocked out of the sky. Yolei was staggering to her feet on the other side of the clearing, ash smeared across her cheeks. Davis was clutching his head, a thin trail of blood running down his face; he'd fallen forward and hit his head on a log. Takato was on all fours, looking completely dazed. Several missing trees along the tree line told Ken where WarGrowlmon had disappeared to. ExVeemon braced himself against the tree he'd been unlucky enough to crash into.

Stingmon landed next to Ken, looking a little charred but otherwise okay. "You okay, Ken?" he asked.

Ken nodded.

Barbamon bellowed, "I see you, Kari Kamiya!" He turned and shot white hot fire out of his staff at a line of bushes to Ken's left. Kari, Cody, Gatomon, and Armadillomon dived out from behind the brush just as it was engulfed in flames.

Barbamon laughed. "I'm happy you've arrived. And you brought guests!"

Ken's gut twisted. This was the moment Kari had warned them about. They'd played right into Barbamon's hands.

The Demon Lord of Greed must've read Ken's expression, because he laughed even louder. "That's right, former Digimon Emperor. I didn't expect you all to stay alive this long, but it doesn't matter. By bringing you here, Kari Kamiya has sealed the deal. If she betrays you, I'm as good as my word. She can take her brother and go. What do I care about a retired digidestined who isn't even part of the prophecy?"

"He's lying, Kari," Gatomon said. "Remember what Cerberumon said. They're setting you up!"

"Are you talking about the sacrifice?" Barbamon said, his lip curling in amusement. "It's true that our Lord would prefer you, Child of Light, but he's an honorable digimon. You hold true to our bargain, and we can make do with that girl there instead." He pointed toward Yolei who seemed to freeze under his sudden attention.

Ken felt a surge of anger. "Don't even think about it!" he snapped.

Barbamon chuckled as if he found Ken's protests be amusing before he turned his attention back onto Kari. "It's up to you, but your brother's not looking too good, is he?"

Ken could see Tai more clearly now, as if Barbamon had magically made the smoke in the area dissipate so that he could better show off his prize. He wore a ragged button up shirt, a mostly untouched t-shirt underneath, and torn slacks. His bare feet were caked with mud. He wasn't completely unconscious, because he lifted his head and groaned. He struggled to keep his eyes open, though. His face looked pale and his skin cracked from overexposure – not like the Child of Courage at all.

"Tai!" Kari yelled.

Tai blinked, trying to focus. "K-Kari…? Kari, run…"

Kari pulled out her D-3 and faced Barbamon. "Let him go!"

"Of course," Barbamon said. "Swear your loyalty to me, and we have no problem. Only these others have to die."

Kari looked back and forth between Tai and Yolei.

"He'll kill you," Cody warned. "Don't trust him!"

"Oh, come now," Barbamon said in a placating manner. "I may be greedy, but I'm not stupid. Unlike the rest of my brethren, I rely on intellect as well as power… and I know that it is in my best interest to keep our bargain. It's part of my plan."

"TK's not here," Gatomon pointed out. "You've already broken your word, Barbamon, and you will again!"

Barbamon waved that detail aside. "Minor miscalculation. I believed that I could procure the Child of Hope before time ran out, but it seems Gennai has hidden him better than I anticipated. But your brother is here, ready to be rescued… Can you ignore that?"

WarGrowlmon emerged from the forest, battle ready; but before he could act, Barbamon roared – a call so loud that Ken was forced to clamp his hands over his ears to avoid going deaf.

At the edge of the woods, half a dozen digimon appeared. Ken realized with nauseating certainty that they hadn't simply been hiding there. They'd stepped straight out of the shadows themselves.

The digimon advanced toward them. Ken recognized who they were right away: Devidramon. His time as the Digimon Emperor had brought him into contact with many of these digimon, and he had learned quite quickly that these digimon were naturally cruel and evil. The dark rings that he had made them wear had just been there for insurance, to make sure they stayed under his control. Each creature was covered in dark armor plating with four red eyes and four black wings on their back. They had unnaturally long arms that ended in blood red claws, skull designs on their shoulders, and a long slithering tail that ended in a devastatingly sharp point.

Takato took an uncertain step back. "Why do I feel like I'm not going to like these guys?"

Davis wiped the blood out of his eyes. "Because you're probably not. I don't think I am either."

"Takato…?" WarGrowlmon asked uncertainly.

"Devidramon," Ken answered for him. "Champion level. Virus type."

"Watch out for those claws and that tail," Stingmon said, taking over where he left off. "And those eyes… Definition of the evil eye."

"Very good," Barbamon chuckled. "They're lesser creatures of the Dark Area, but they serve their purpose well. It helps that they don't talk a lot either."

The lead Devidramon started to growl as if to prove his point, and the other five followed suit, filling the air with a strange malicious humming.

Barbamon smiled. "You see, Kari, you have a choice. Save your brother, or… try to save your friends and face certain death."

Kari stepped forward. Her eyes blazed with such rage that Ken almost didn't recognize her as the sweet and gentle person he had been friends with for the last four years. She radiated with power and seemed to almost glow, but it had nothing to do with firelight behind her or the sun overhead.

"You will not hurt the people I love," she said. "None of them."

"That's my girl," Yolei said with a bright smile.

Barbamon snarled at Kari. "You could have been on our side, girl. You could have been so useful to us. But as you wish. Devidramon! Destroy the digidestined! Starting with that one."

Ken's heart sank, but the Demon Lord didn't point at Kari. He pointed to the other side of the bonfire, where Tai hung helpless and half conscious.

x X x

One look from Davis, and everybody knew the game plan. Ken wasn't sure when that happened. He and Davis had always been in sync, but it was like the rest of the group had finally caught up and Takato had somehow ended up in an accelerated course to be on the same page as well.

WarGrowlmon and ExVeemon charged Barbamon, while Kari and Cody rushed to Tai, and Stingmon and Aquilamon dashed to intercept the Devidramon. The Devidramon were fast, but Stingmon and Aquilmon flew like the wind. Yolei rode atop Aquilamon, her lavender hair flying behind her. Ken followed, not wanting to be left behind.

"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon called, extending the spike from his arm, but he didn't aim for the Devidramon. He brought the blade down and cut through the large purple bonfire in the middle of the clearing. Burning logs toppled down onto the Devidramon, spraying sparks everywhere. Two of the Devidramon went down under a fiery avalanche and whines of pain before disappearing into data particles – hopefully to stay deconfigured for a while.

The other four Devidramon shook embers off their wings before taking to the skies to avoid the hot coals and burning logs. Yolei and Aquilamon shot toward them. "Blast Rings!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kari and Cody at the cliff wall, attempting to free Tai from his shackles. On the other side of the clearing, WarGrowlmon and ExVeemon fought the Demon Lord head-on, both of them somehow managing to dodge the blasts of fire.

The whole side of the mountain would soon be ablaze. The fire wasn't going to bother Barbamon or probably WarGrowlmon, but if the rest of them got trapped up here – Well, he just didn't want to think about it. They needed to end this as quickly as possible.

One of the Devidramon – apparently one of the bolder ones – leapt onto Stingmon's back, wrapping his massive arms around him. They fell into a dive toward the ground.

"Yolei!" Ken called desperately.

Yolei tugged on Aquilamon's feathers, and they took a sharp right toward Stingmon. "Grand Horn!" Lightning shot out of Aquilamon's horns and hit the Devidramon square in the back. Devidramon's grip went slack as his entire body went into a spasm from the electricity, and Stingmon kicked himself free before spinning in the air toward him. "Moon Shooter!" As soon as the projectile needle from Stingmon's attack penetrated the Devidramon, he dissolved like sugar in water, sending data particles flying through the air.

He stared up at Yolei with gratitude, and she looked back down at him with a dazzling smile. He moved to follow after Stingmon who was hovering on the other side of the clearing when he realized that his feet were stuck. He had been standing in the same place for several moments as he watched Stingmon and Aquilamon fight, and his feet had managed to sink a few inches into the earth, and the dirt had encased itself over his shoes. He felt a surge of panic as he tried to pry his feet out of the ground. He was stuck, helpless, and completely useless down here. He hoped the remaining three Devidramon wouldn't notice.

Unfortunately, they did.

The three remaining Devidramon landed, and with six overly long arms, each picked up loose boulders and threw them in his direction at super speed – Ken knew it was over. Somehow, he launched himself in a backward limbo-like move, bent at the knees at a near perfect 90 degree angle, half a second before a boulder went flying through the air right where his torso should have been. Rocks slammed into and flattened trees. Ken fell on his back, and his shoes popped out of the earth. By the time Ken stumbled back to his feet, a newly formed path down the side of the mountain had been created.

"Stingmon!" Ken yelled.

The Devidramon were picking up more rocks, but this time they were glaring in Kari's direction. Just as Cody released Tai from the shackles that held him up and he collapsed in Kari's arms, the Devidramon launched their second volley of stones. Stingmon swiveled in the air and shot through the sky to intercept.

"Spinning Spiking Strike!" A flurry of kicks followed in a quick succession, catching the boulders flying through the air. The force from each rock was so great that it pushed Stingmon further and further back. Two rocks weren't destroyed on impact and were simply kicked back the direction they came, causing two of the Devidramon to take flight back to avoid being struck – right into Aquilamon's path.

"Blast Rings!" Supersonic energy left Aquilamon's bill and exploded on impact with the first Devidramon, and he melted into data. Aquilamon didn't stop his advance and rammed into the second Devidramon, his horns penetrating the black metal armor before sending an electrical current through his body, and causing the second to meet the same morbid fate.

One still remained. An unchecked boulder went flying through the air and caught Stingmon in the chest. He crashed somewhere in the forest, a puff of debris rising into the sky from his crash sight. Ken felt his heart skip a beat. A beam of red light shot through the clearing from the last Devidramon's eyes and caught Aquilamon as he was trying to follow to where Stingmon had fallen, and he cried out in pain as he and Yolei crash landed just on the outskirts of the clearing.

Kari and Cody dragged Tai toward the tree line to get him out of the line of fire. Gatomon and Armadillomon were doing the same with a weakened Agumon right behind them. The last Devidramon charged after them.

Ken had no digimon, no backup, and no tricks, but he couldn't let Devidramon get to Tai. He ran straight through the flames, snatched up a smoldering stick about the size of his arm along the way, and said the first Davis-like thing that came to his head: "Hey, ugly!" Then he threw the stick at the Devidramon.

In hindsight, it was probably not one of his better plans, but it did the trick: It didn't destroy the digimon, but it got his attention. The stick sizzled for a second as it connected with Devidramon's armor before falling harmlessly to the ground.

Devidramon turned and glared at him with all four of his red eyes. Sadly, this last Devidramon looked like the biggest and smartest of the bunch, which pretty much spelled out bad things for Ken.

I probably should have thought this through a bit better, Ken thought.

"You have just sealed your fate," Devidramon hissed.

Devidramon turned fully toward him. His claws cut into the ground as his eyes began to glow red.

Ken's mind went blank. He reached for his D-3, but he couldn't think of anything else to do that could possibly help. He was supposed to be a child genius – but he couldn't math or science his way out of this one.

Well, he thought, I guess this is it.

He clutched his D-3 tightly in his fist and hoped that Wormmon and Yolei were okay. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited to be obliterated.

Then a voice out of nowhere: "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Ken's eyes flew open. A blur of white and purple flashed behind Devidramon. Dark black claws sliced up one side of Devidramon and down the other. Two large arms dropped to the ground, and the red glow faded from Devidramon's shocked eyes. He stared down at his now missing limbs just as they exploded into data. Then he, too, melted into nothing.

Gatomon stood behind him, her claws gleaming in the sunlight. Kari sat with Tai, Agumon, Cody, and Armadillomon at the edge of the clearing. Tai looked dazed and wounded, but still alive. Agumon appeared to still be unconscious.

Gatomon's expression was ferocious – like a cornered animal about to go berserk. Ken was glad she was on their side.

"Armadillomon, we've done enough sitting around," she said, and the digimon in question perked up immediately upon hearing his name. "Come on!"

Ken turned to look at what had caught her attention and saw that the battle wasn't over. WarGrowlmon and ExVeemon were still fighting Barbamon – and it wasn't going well.