Omnimon Zwart stood before the terrified children, its cape flapping regally in the breeze, dwarfing all of the buildings and structures of the surrounding town. No one made a move to attack it. It was clear how hopeless it was.
"How did he know?" Tai whispered, fighting back berserk tears. How did he know?"
"I'm ready to fight, Davis!" Veemon said as he clenched his fists, though the waver in his voice quickly gave away his lie.
Davis looked uneasy. "Uhhh… I don't know if that's a good idea."
"Oh, what fun this will be… like shooting Gizamon in a barrel!" the Emperor crowed as he stood on the shoulder of his dark creation. "Omnimon Zwart! Attack them all! Leave no survivors!"
Emotionlessly, without a hint of compassion toward its former friends, Omnimon Zwart lifted the enormous sword that extended from its left arm, swinging it at the children and their Digimon.
Everyone screamed and scattered.
Omnimon's sword crashed down, carving a massive hole into the ground and throwing a cloud of dust into the air. As it lifted its head up and saw everyone was running away, it switched tactics and prepared the cannon in its right arm. It fired a huge blast of energy that flew past the children and exploded into the ground, but as it passed by them, they all felt the air temperature around them plummet.
Davis started hugging himself. "Holy cow… that stuff is cold!"
"Don't let it hit you. You'll be frozen to death in an instant," TK said grimly.
"Give it up, you little brats!" Ken shouted at them. "Omnimon Zwart is the most powerful being in the Digital World! And it's mine!"
The Digidestined could only keep running as Omnimon Zwart stomped after them, attacking with both weapons at once. Its sword went crashing through several houses, causing them to explode into timber, and its freezing blasts left huge portions of the ground encased in ice.
"It's destroying the entire town!" Cody shouted.
"How are we supposed to fight this thing?" Yolei cried.
"We can't." TK shook his head, obviously speaking from experience. "There's no way. It's too powerful."
Davis looked at him. "So what, we just keep running?"
"It's been working pretty well so far!" said Gatomon.
But Tai and Matt weren't running. They were standing their ground, shouting up at the corrupted Digimon.
"Agumon! Agumon, it's me! I know you're in there, buddy!"
"You have to stop this, Gabumon! We don't want to fight!"
Ken let out an evil laugh. "You kids really have a death wish, don't you? Sorry, but your precious bonds of friendship won't save you this time!"
And just to prove his point, Omnimon Zwart suddenly leveled its cannon at the two boys, preparing to vaporize them… but it never got the chance.
It suddenly went completely still, like it had frozen up, and started twitching. Tai and Matt stared up as it began flickering in and out of existence, like a glitched-out computer image.
Ken obviously realized something was wrong. "What are you doing?" he shouted down at his slave. "Stop messing around! Hurry up and – "
And then something seemed to come over him as well. Letting out a loud gasp, he collapsed to his knees atop Omnimon Zwart's shoulder. He grabbed at his chest, breathing heavily and looking like he was struggling to stay conscious.
Wormmon had to stop himself from crying out his partner's name. What was happening to him? It looked like he was in terrible pain… but why?
"What the heck's wrong with Ken?" said Davis.
"I don't know, but I don't think we should stick around to find out," said Tai. Taking advantage of this brief lull in the battle, he grabbed Kari by the hand and scrambled out of the line of fire as fast as he could. Realizing this could be their only chance, the other children and their partners quickly followed after him.
Still clutching at his chest, the Emperor whipped his head up and realized his prey was escaping. "What the – come back here, you cowards!"
"Come on, Wormmon!" Davis shouted. Before Wormmon knew what was happening, the gogglehead had scooped him up and taken off after the others.
Even as she was running, Yolei was furiously typing something into her D-Terminal, which was obviously concerning to Hawkmon. "Yolei, my dear, is this really the time for that?"
"Izzy should still be waiting for us in the computer lab. I'm emailing him about this! I sent him an image of Omnimon."
"I don't know how Izzy can help us now…" said Matt.
"Guys! Look up ahead!" TK shouted, pointing off in front of them. They were running toward one of the railroad tracks that led into the town, and resting on top of it was a duo of railcars with a sail in front. There was just enough room for all of them in there.
"Everybody get in!" said Tai, and seven children and their Digimon all went diving into one of the two railcars. The jostling impact sent the contraption rolling down the track, away from the town and away from the Emperor.
Wormmon and the others worriedly lifted their heads up and looked behind them at what was left of the destroyed town, afraid Ken and Omnimon would be following after them any second. But the Emperor and his slave were still standing far behind, a monolithic presence in the middle of the wreckage, both of them suffering under some intense pain.
The Digidestined had gotten away… for now.
––
"We gotta figure out what we're gonna do, before Ken catches up to us."
Wormmon wasn't sure how much time they had passed riding in the railcars. The team's only goal had been to get as far away from Omnimon Zwart as possible… but that obviously wouldn't be an option forever. Now they were all trying to figure out what to do when they inevitably ran out of time.
After Tai spoke up, Davis looked up at him with an annoyed expression. "There's nothing we can do. We're not strong enough to beat Omnimon Zwart! Not by a long shot!"
"We don't need to beat it," said TK. "We just need to get rid of those Dark Spirals on its arms."
"Oh, well great. So how do we get close enough to do that before we get killed?"
TK glared at him. "Davis, at least I'm trying to think of a plan! That's more than you're doing!"
"You're not even thinking about Tai and Matt! You're talking about fighting their partners like it's nothing!"
In a flash, the two boys had grabbed each other by their shirts and looked a matter of seconds away from breaking into a fistfight.
"Stop fighting!" Wormmon cried, springing up between the two of them before they could come to blows. Both boys froze up and looked down at him.
"Both of you… stop fighting. You're friends, aren't you? Friends shouldn't fight each other."
Davis glowered down at him. "I know that, Wormmon," he said. "Try telling that to him. He's saying we should be attacking Omnimon!"
Cody was sitting back with his eyes closed, looking impatient. "Maybe we should ask Tai and Matt what they want to do before we start fighting each other? They're the ones being affected by this."
TK sighed and let go of Davis's shirt. "You're right, Cody," he said. "Matt… what do you think? Do we have any other choice?"
Matt and Tai were both sitting up in the front railcar. Both of them had been pretty quiet, and now as they exchanged a look with each other, it was clear they still didn't know what to say.
"Well… I…"
Matt didn't get to finish. At that moment, Yolei sat up in a flash as her D-Terminal started beeping. Cody and Hawkmon peered over her shoulder as she flipped it open.
"It's Izzy! He must have gotten my email," she said in relief. "Izzy! Hey! We're kind of in a bit of trouble right now."
"I'll say you are," Izzy's voice came from the D3. Everyone sitting around Yolei tried to get a look at the screen. "I can't believe Ken was able to create Omnimon again. How did he even know how to do it?"
"That's number two on our list of things to figure out," said TK. "Number one is, how do we get out of this without getting killed."
"Ken has just gotten more and more powerful since he moved to the Digital World… he's out of control," Izzy muttered. "Well… I have some bad news, everyone. Something's very wrong with Omnimon."
Yolei rolled her eyes. "Gee, ya think?"
"Ken was somehow able to force it to that level," Izzy went on. "But I'm not sure how. I analyzed the images of those Dark Spirals, and in theory, they should only be strong enough to control Ultimate-level Digimon."
Cody blinked. "…You were able to figure that out just from a picture?"
"It's Izzy. We just roll with it," Matt sighed.
"What I'm trying to say is, this is an unnatural digivolution, and all of Omnimon Zwart's energy is being used up from being forcibly kept at that level. The way it started… malfunctioning in front of you all just confirms that. At this point, I'm afraid…" He trailed off.
"Of what?" There was a note of fear in Tai's voice. He sat up and grabbed the edge of the railcar. "Izzy? Afraid of what?"
It was clear the boy on the screen didn't want to finish his train of thought. But he did.
"I'm afraid the only thing holding it together are those Dark Spirals."
There was silence in the railcars. The only noise came from the rickety wheels as they rattled down the tracks.
"You mean…" Kari whispered. "If we destroy them, then…"
"We'd be killing Omnimon?" Davis finished for her.
Wormmon couldn't believe what he was hearing. He should have known something like this would happen when he told Ken about Omnimon, but… hearing it now, having it confirmed to him, made him feel like cold hard reality had just smacked him in the face.
His friends were going to die… or they would become killers. All because of him.
Luckily, the conversation was then derailed yet again, this time by Cody's D3 going off. He pulled it out and looked at it in confusion.
"Everyone… my D3 is detecting the presence of a Digiegg… straight ahead."
Everyone looked surprised. "Another Digiegg? I thought we found them all," said Kari.
"I don't know. But we have to pull the brakes now, or we'll pass by it."
Yolei gave a small nod. "We'll have to talk later, Izzy," she said, shutting her D-Terminal.
As the railcars slowed to a stop, everyone jumped out and followed Cody as he let his D3 lead them ahead. After barely a minute, they'd arrived at a tall stone wall with a large, very familiar carving set into it.
Everyone stared up at it. "This must be it. That looks just like… the Crest of Friendship," said TK.
Patamon flew off his shoulder. "Look down here, everyone!" he said, pointing at something just below the stone wall. There was a large crater in the ground, and as everyone gathered around it and looked down, they saw a black and blue Digiegg with a jagged horn sticking out of it, resting on the ground. The egg, too, bore the Crest of Friendship.
Tai looked over at his friend. "Matt. Go for it, man."
Nodding vaguely at nobody in particular, Matt knelt down next to the Digiegg and tried to pull it out of the ground… but from the way he immediately started straining, it was clear he wouldn't be successful. Finally he gave up, sat back and sighed.
"It's no good. It's not mine."
"But we all have our Digieggs already. Whose could it be?" asked Yolei.
"Who cares whose it is?" Davis snapped at her. "We're not actually gonna try and pick it up, are we?"
Everyone turned to stare at him. "Davis, what are you talking about?" asked Tai.
"This could be our only chance against Omnimon Zwart," said TK.
Davis pointed an accusing finger at him. "There you go again! Quit talking like we're gonna be fighting Omnimon! We can't do that!" he said. "Cause if we do… we'll be killing Tai and Matt's partners!"
TK's face briefly flashed with guilt. "We… we don't know that," he said quietly, looking away. "Maybe Izzy was wrong…"
"But Davis… what other choice do we have?" asked Veemon. "Omnimon Zwart won't stop until it's destroyed all of us…"
Davis looked at his partner in shock. "What, you're gonna take his side too?" he said. "What if it were you, Veemon? What if everyone was trying to kill you? Would you be okay with that?"
Veemon stared at him, unable to come up with an answer, and then stared at the ground. All the other Digidestined and their partners similarly found themselves unable to look Davis in the eye.
"I can't believe you guys. How can you even be thinking like this?" Davis went on. "Agumon and Gabumon are our friends!"
TK was standing with his arms folded. He still didn't have a response, and so he looked up at his brother.
"Matt? Don't you have something to say about this?"
Matt was standing next to Tai. Both of them had the same look on their faces. Pale. Empty. It took Matt a moment to even speak up.
"If we fight… then Gabumon dies?"
An earthshaking crash interrupted any further conversation.
Everyone spun around and found Omnimon Zwart suddenly towering over them, momentarily recovered from whatever had been afflicting it before.
The Emperor had found them. Their time was up.
"You know, I was never a fan of hide and seek," Ken said irritably. "Let's end this nonsense now, shall we?"
"We won't let you get away with this, Ken!" Tai shouted up at the younger boy. "You can't just go around doing whatever you like with other people's Digimon!"
Wormmon chose his words carefully. He couldn't give himself away. "Omnimon is too strong for you, Ken! Can't you see that? It's out of control!"
"That's enough talk from all of you," Ken snapped, even though everyone could see Wormmon was right. Omnimon Zwart was being held together with duct tape. Ken was messing with powers that were too much for even him to control. If he kept doing this… he was going to destroy the Digital World.
Maybe that was what he wanted.
He thrust a finger forward. "Omnimon Zwart! Obliterate them!"
The corrupted Digimon came surging toward the defenseless children. They all ran out of the way in time, but they still had to brace themselves as Omnimon crashed into the stone wall behind them. It didn't look injured at all from the impact, simply turning around and facing them again.
Tai was in no shape to give commands, so his sister stepped up. "We have to destroy those Dark Spirals! It's our only chance!"
"Why thank you for yelling your battle plans right in front of me! I think I just won't let you do that!" Ken sneered.
In a matter of seconds, four of the younger children had Armor Digivolved their partners, and now they were all flying and buzzing around the enormous Mega-level Digimon, firing off their attacks and trying to hit the Dark Spirals on its arms.
"We're going to get ourselves killed," muttered Nefertimon.
"It doesn't matter. I'll protect TK with my life!" said Pegasusmon.
Unfortunately, Omnimon Zwart was attacking them so quickly that they couldn't get a good lock on its arms. Quick as a flash, it opened its arm cannon and shot an enormous blast of freezing cold energy at its attackers, and they all just barely dodged it. The attack went flying and crashed into the stone wall behind them, sending large chunks of it falling to the ground.
"Get out of the way!" TK screamed, grabbing Cody and pulling him to safety just as a huge rock crashed to the ground where they had been standing.
Omnimon Zwart began swinging around its mighty sword, making it even harder for the Armor Digimon to get close. Halsemon and Digmon tried to blind it by firing their attacks into its face, but those attacks were so feeble against such a monster that they did practically nothing at all.
Then Omnimon Zwart spun around and blasted them both with a shot from its cannon. It only glazed them, but that was enough.
"Hawkmon!" Yolei screamed as both Digimon shrank back down to their Rookie forms and plummeted out of the sky. She and Cody both ran forward to catch them… directly toward Omnimon Zwart.
"Both of you, look out!" shouted Pegasusmon, flying down and shoving them out of the way just before they were all vaporized by a cannon shot.
Ken was laughing madly. "Yes! Yes! Destroy them all!"
Davis hadn't moved an inch since the battle began. He was staring in fright, paralyzed with indecision. The others were all fighting, even though there was no point. Even though it was a losing battle.
"Davis? Aren't we going to help them?" Veemon asked timidly.
The gogglehead looked down at his partner. "But… what can we do?" he asked hopelessly.
Wormmon had been standing back in silence, watching everything. As always, he was useless in this fight. He didn't stand a chance against Omnimon Zwart. He'd be killed in an instant. But he had to do something.
He didn't want Agumon and Gabumon to die. He didn't want Ken to be responsible for their deaths. But if Davis kept acting like this, then he'd be the one to die instead. He and the rest of the Digidestined.
Before he even knew what he was doing, he'd latched onto Davis's leg.
"Davis! You have to remember what Bearmon said!"
Davis seemingly broke out of his fugue and stared down at Wormmon. "What?"
"You've been trying to learn how to be a leader from him, right? Don't you remember what he said?" Wormmon went on. "He said that sometimes leaders have to make the hard decisions."
Davis clearly had no idea to respond to that. "Wormmon… he said that because he was gonna turn you over to the Emperor! Don't you remember that?"
"Yes, but… I don't blame him." How could he, when he'd done so much worse. "He was just doing what he had to. To protect his friends."
Davis was silent.
"Wormmon's right, Davis," Matt spoke up, causing both Davis and Wormmon to look up at him. Something had changed about him. He still looked pained and lost, but at the same time, it looked like he'd finally come to a decision.
"Gabumon and Agumon are our friends… but so are the others. If you don't do this, they'll all be in danger."
Davis looked at him hopelessly. "Isn't there another way…?"
Matt just closed his eyes and shook his head. "That's what true friendship is… it means doing right by your friends. Even when it hurts."
Hearing such things from Matt himself obviously gave Davis pause. He stood where he was for just a moment, Wormmon and Veemon watching him in anticipation. Then finally, his protests seemed to drain out of him, and he clenched his hands and lowered his head.
"True friendship… I get it now."
And then something behind him started to glow.
Everyone turned around in astonishment. The Digiegg of Friendship was shining a bright blue, and then it rose up from its spot on the ground and slowly floated over to them… or more accurately, over to Davis. Completely astonished, the gogglehead held out his hands as the Digiegg gently came to land inside of them.
"It was… mine all along?"
Veemon stared at it in awe. "Can we use that to digivolve, Davis?"
"I guess there's only one way to find out…" With a grim look on his face, Davis stood up, turned to face Omnimon Zwart and held out the Digiegg, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Digiarmor energize!"
Veemon was enveloped in a pale blue light and started growing and changing before their eyes. When the light died away, an entirely new Digimon was standing in his place.
Davis stood with his mouth open. "Veemon?"
"Not anymore," said the new Digimon, bearing his fangs in a lupine grin. "Call me Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!"
"Amazing!" Kari gasped. "Veemon has a second Armor digivolution!"
"Another one…?" Davis marveled at his partner's new form, but only for a moment. "Okay, Raidramon. We gotta destroy those Dark Spirals. And we gotta be fast about it."
"I think you'll find that fast is what I do best!" Raidramon declared as Davis hopped on his back. The two of them raced into the fray with renewed vigor, leaving Wormmon and the others to stand back and watch.
Pegasusmon and Nefertimon had been doing all they could to distract Omnimon Zwart, but both of them looked relieved when Raidramon suddenly appeared next to them.
"Looks like the cavalry's finally here."
"We'll leave the rest to you, Raidramon!"
"Raidramon! Let's draw their fire away from the other guys!" Davis shouted at his partner.
"Now you're talking like a leader, Davis!" said Raidramon. And then they were off, quick as a bolt of lightning, circling around Omnimon Zwart's back.
"What the – " From his perch atop the massive Digimon, Ken looked down in astonishment. Who was this new Digimon, and how was it so fast?
Omnimon Zwart turned around, away from the other children, trying to track the smaller Digimon as it fired its cannon repeatedly. But as powerful as its attacks were, they weren't precise. Raidramon wove back and forth effortlessly between the cannon shots, with Davis clinging to his back and bracing himself against the ensuing explosions.
"Is Davis going to be okay out there?" Kari said worriedly.
Matt gave a slight nod. "He'll be fine," he said. "He's a tough kid… and he and Raidramon are true partners."
Raidramon ran in closer to Omnimon, baiting a close range attack, and it worked. Omnimon switched to its sword, swinging it in a massive arc and bringing it crashing down to the ground… and Raidramon dodged the attack before leaping onto its arm.
"Blue Lightning!" he shouted, frying the Dark Spiral on its arm with an electric blast.
The Dark Spiral shattered.
Just like that, Omnimon Zwart resumed the same ominous flickering and glitching that had consumed it before. More importantly, it was frozen. It couldn't move.
"What in the – not again!" Ken grabbed onto its shoulder, trying to maintain his balance. "What's going on?"
"Just one Dark Spiral left," said Raidramon. "You sure you wanna do this, Davis?"
Davis paused before nodding. "Yeah. Let's do it."
The two of them raced around to Omnimon's other side, and as much as Ken was screaming threats down at them, there wasn't a thing he could do to stop them. Raidramon prepared a second lightning attack, firing it at the second Dark Spiral on Omnimon's immobilized right arm.
It, too, shattered… and then so did the Digimon it was holding together.
Davis and Raidramon braced themselves, racing away to safety as the enormous Digimon started glitching more intensely, degenerating into a mess of color and static. The space around it seemed to warp and twist, and then, in a burst of dark energy, Omnimon came apart.
Countless bits of data scattered off into the wind, and then it was gone.
Ken was about to fall out of the sky, when a ringed Devidramon flew in from out of nowhere and carried him off to safety. Away from the battle, and away from the damage he had caused.
Leaving the others to deal with the fallout.
"AGUMON!" Tai screamed, his voice echoing in the wind as he came charging over to where Omnimon had been. But there was no one left, just the last few bits of data that floated about before winking out of existence.
"Agumon!" Tears were pouring down Tai's face, and his knees gave out from underneath him. "This can't… this can't be happening… you can't…"
Matt was in a similar state. He fell to his knees, numb with shock, and then it finally seemed to dawn on him that this was really happening.
"Gabumon…" He threw his head back and screamed. "Gabumon!"
Davis, Yolei and Cody were completely still. They couldn't process this. Partner Digimon… dying? It wasn't possible. And yet, it was. Their two strongest Digimon, two of the heroes that had saved the Digital World in the past… and they were gone. Just like that.
TK slowly knelt down next to his brother, putting a hand on his shoulder. "He'll come back, Matt," he said quietly. "Remember. He'll come back."
Kari tried to do the same for her brother. "Please don't be sad, Tai," she whispered, gently wrapping her arms around his neck. "Agumon would never leave you forever… you know that, don't you?"
For a moment, Tai gave no indication that he'd heard her. Then he dug his fingers into the ground, and a dark fire lit up in his eyes.
"Ken is going to pay," he said hoarsely. "I'm going to make him pay."
"Davis!" came a voice. The gogglehead turned around to see Raidramon had shrunk back down to Veemon and was running over to him. Davis grabbed his partner and pulled him into a tight hug… and then the two of them turned to look at the two crying, broken boys.
"Veemon… did we do the right thing?"
Being a Digidestined was supposed to be an adventure. They were supposed be heroes who beat the bad guys.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
He slowly trudged over to Matt and TK. He didn't even know why… to apologize? To let them know he'd tried everything to save Gabumon, even if he'd failed?
"Matt…"
The older boy turned around and looked up at Davis, his face wet with tears. Davis expected him to be furious… but instead, he managed to put on a weak, pained smile.
"Davis…" he said. "Your new Digimon… looks a lot like Garurumon." He laughed, though it sounded more like a cough. "Guess it's good to know… even if he's gone… Raidramon will be there to pick up the slack."
Davis just stared at him. He didn't have a deep emotional range on the best of days, but anyone looking at him would have said he looked horrified.
Once again, Wormmon found himself glad that he had been forgotten. He stood apart from the others, quiet and unobtrusive, thinking about everything he'd just seen. Davis had saved them… that was good. But what a lesson he'd had to learn to make it happen.
Friendship – true friendship – wasn't all fun and games. Sometimes friends got lost, or made mistakes. But if you truly were a friend to them, you didn't stand by and let it happen. Even if it hurt them, or if they hated you. You had to do what you knew was right.
Just like me and Ken…
Everyone's heart was heavy. Hardly anyone even had the energy to acknowledge Wormmon as they departed the Digital World, but it didn't matter. He had other things on his mind.
I learned something today too.
––
That night inside the fortress, the Emperor was practically humming to himself as he strode down the dark hallways. Wormmon reluctantly followed after him, unsure whether he should be happy about his partner's good mood or not.
"What a rousing success," said the Emperor, clearly reliving the events of the day in his mind with relish. "Those bratty kids are as good as mine now."
That was a strange reaction to his defeat, Wormmon thought. "But… they destroyed Omnimon."
"Yes, indeed. They destroyed their own Digimon. What a genius tactical maneuver. I should have thought of it myself."
Wormmon paused. "It'll be hard to find another Digimon that powerful."
"Nonsense. If I can create Omnimon Zwart, then I can create others. This was nothing but a test."
They reached the control room, and Ken slumped down in his chair. That was when Wormmon noticed it. In spite of his good mood, something about Ken was looking… off. He looked paler and weaker than usual. Almost like the night he'd attacked Wormmon.
"Ken… you're not looking well. Maybe you should take a break from all the enslaving and conquering for a while."
"Don't be ridiculous. This is my moment of triumph. I can't afford to stop now." He looked like he was about to say something else, but then he briefly grew a dazed look on his face, almost like he was falling asleep in his chair. He drooped forward for a moment before lurching himself back awake.
Wormmon was alarmed. "Ken! This is serious! What's wrong with you?"
"Hmph. It's nothing." Ken looked irritated at Wormmon for even asking. "The Dark Spirals just weren't quite as powerful as I wanted them to be."
His partner just stared at him. "What… what does that mean?"
"In reality, I couldn't make them powerful enough to control a Mega-level Digimon. Let alone one as strong as Omnimon," said the Emperor. "They can only do so much to amplify the power of my digivice. So I just gave it some of my own power."
"What? You mean you…" Was that why Ken had looked to be straining himself so much during the battle? "You sacrificed your own life energy? But – but you're a human! Can humans even do that?"
He kept gazing up at Ken fearfully, even as his partner turned to glare at him once again. "It just doesn't sound safe…"
As he always did, the Emperor brushed away Wormmon's concerns. "Of course it's safe, you little invertebrate. It's not like I can die in this world."
And with that, he turned his attention fully to the computer screens in front of them, shutting Wormmon's presence out of his mind. "Today provided a wealth of information. It's time to put it to use."
Wormmon had been with Ken long enough now to know when a conversation was finished. His antennae drooping in defeat, he turned around and slowly crawled out of the room, unnoticed. The Emperor was left alone, grinning up at one of his screens, where an image of Omnimon Zwart still remained on display.
"This won't be my last experiment with Jogress evolution," he said. "Not by a long shot…"
––
A/N: Zero points for predicting what this chapter was going to be titled. Also, this was our first really big departure from canon. And the fun doesn't stop here...
