Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. Please support the official release.


Might Makes Wrong

Kazu slammed his backdoor more out of reflex than intent. He paused for half a second after realizing what he had just done, having not been thinking about anything in particular when he stepped through the doorway. He didn't get much more time to think on it though, as the reasoning behind the slamming had no effect on how far the noise carried.

"Don't slam my door!" his mother yelled from inside the house, naturally having to grab any opportunity to get on his case.

"The door was asking for it!" Kazu shot back before he remembered why he had stepped outside in the first place.

Taking the last few steps he needed to, he opened the lid of the garbage container and dropped the black bag in his hand inside. Not ready to go back into the house after that, however, Kazu walked across his backyard, with no real intent other than to waste more time.

Guardromon sat in his usual corner of the yard, leafing through the pages of some fantasy light novel. Though clearly into his book, that didn't stop him from attentively lifting his eyes as Kazu approached.

"If your mother is concerned about door maintenance, I'd be happy to take another look."

"Eh, the door's fine." Kazu waved his hand dismissively and leaned against the fence next to his partner. "And honestly, I could use the space."

"Mayhaps a walk to clear your head then." Guardromon closed his book and stood up to stretch. "You could check in on Kenta or one of your other friends."

Kazu snorted. "No, I'll pass on getting pitied or lectured for my life choices."

His emotions from a couple minutes earlier suddenly reclicked in his head, frustration coming to the forefront. His friends were the reason for his bad mood, looking down on him and not treating him like an equal member of the team, probably because his partner couldn't reach the Mega level. That suited him just fine, though, because he didn't need them either.

And that's not even considering what Jeri pulled… Kazu thought, remembering the emotional whiplash she had put him through for no good reason. As it stood, he was content to continue avoiding all of his friends.

His cellphone suddenly buzzed in his pocket, grabbing his attention. Kazu instinctively pulled it out of his pocket, finding a message in the group chat Hypnos had set up for the Tamers.

"Mega level Digimon expected to bio-emerge in Shinjuku Park within the next ten minutes. Recommend you all meet up and deal with it as a group."

Kazu rolled his eyes, half tempted to ignore the message entirely. Another thought crossed his mind, however, as he glanced between Guardromon and the phone in his hand. As far as he was concerned, Hypnos oversold a lot of the threats that got thrown their way. That, coupled with how the Tamers' partners were often strong enough to deal with higher leveled wild Digimon, meant that a Mega wasn't as scary as it used to be.

As responses from the others started to come in, likely to decide on a meeting place, Kazu slipped his phone back into his pocket. After all, he didn't need them.


"Are we certain this is the wisest plan of action?" Guardromon asked, eyes locked forward as he flew towards the forming digital field.

"It'll be fine," Kazu answered from his spot on Guardromon's shoulder, balancing on which seemed to get more difficult as he got older and taller. "Just fly forward."

Guardromon complied, picking up just slightly more speed to propel them through the warm and damp smog that made up the field. Kazu double-checked his D-Power, making sure the device and his modify cards were on his person. He felt ready, and as long as he didn't make any rookie mistakes, he knew this fight would be a breeze.

As Guardromon set down in the middle of the field, Kazu hopped off his shoulder and surveyed the area. He was about to pull out his DigiVice to do a more thorough scan, but quickly spotted the target on his own. He didn't even bother activating the analyzer to identify the wild Digimon, being able to recognize it on sight.

On the edges of the field, a Diaboromon slowly crawled around on all fours, like it was trying to find itself an exit. Of course, Kazu wasn't about to let that happen.

"Hey, ugly," Kazu called out. "What's your story?"

"Don't…" Diaboromon answered in a strained and gravelly voice as it snapped its attention towards them. "...interfere."

"If I may, stranger," Guardromon replied, hands raised diplomatically. "We would prefer to parley rather than resort to fisticuffs. If your presence here is but a misunderstanding, we would humbly accept the responsibility of guiding you back to the Digital World."

Kazu crossed his arms. "So how do you wanna do this?"

"I want…" Diaboromon oriented its whole body to face them. "...to destroy."

"Have it your way…"

Kazu grinned, concentrating on a single need and desire. Without looking down at his modify cards, he pulled one out of the deck. Bringing the card forward, it now glowing a deep blue, he swiped it through his D-Power with an effortless motion.

Guardromon began to glow in kind, changing shape as he took up a battle position. As the light faded, the taller and more slender Andromon stepped forward.

"Let 'em have it!" Kazu ordered, cuing both Digimon to leap into action.

"GATLING ATTACK!"

Andromon's chest plate opened, allowing a pair of orange missiles to be fired from it. The missiles homed in on their target, though Diaboromon was quick to spin while in midair, using its lanky arms to bat the attack away. Without losing momentum, Diaboromon propelled itself forward, with Andromon just barely managing to dodge at the last second.

Kazu glanced down at his hand, knowing it was just a matter of deciding which of his best modify cards would neutralize their enemy. Andromon being a Vaccine type already gave him an advantage over Virus types like Diaboromon, which meant Kazu only needed to bridge the power gap between an Ultimate and a Mega. It didn't take long for him to realize he had the perfect card.

"Alright, let's try this. Power activate!" Kazu swiped the card, and upon seeing Andromon begin to glow in response, he grinned and pointed forward. "Give it everything you got, Andromon!"

Andromon nodded, never taking his eyes off of Diaboromon. Outstretching his right arm, his hand began to spin and crackle with energy, reconfiguring itself into a drill-shaped blade.

"LIGHTNING BLADE!"

Andromon swung his arm, releasing a lance of energy that hit Diaboromon dead-on. Kazu immediately pumped his fist in excitement.

"That's the way!" he cheered, though not really all that surprised by the outcome. After all, the team had been sleeping on his abilities for a while.

"I…" Andromon paused, sounding a little out out of breath. "...don't believe we've conquered our foe just yet, Kazu."

Kazu raised an eyebrow, though the smoke cleared before he could respond. Diaboromon still stood there, seeming to have been barely scratched by the attack. Kazu gritted his teeth, telling himself that they had to have done more damage than their opponent was showing.

He returned to his modify cards. "Maybe next we can-"

"CABLE CRUSHER!"

Both of Diaboromon's arms extended and flew towards Andromon one after the other. Andromon sidestepped the first attack, though it still managed to graze his waist. Slowed down and seeming to realize it, Andromon threw up his arms to deflect the second attack.

"You gotta be quicker than that!" Kazu called out, feeling a little nervous all of a sudden.

"I'll try to adjust my evasion parameters," Andromon replied, though he was clearly still low on energy.

"Okay then…" Kazu quickly sifted through his cards, searching for one that would recharge his partner's energy. Settling on one, he brought it to his DigiVice. "Digi-modify!"

Andromon's movements seemed to pick up again, though by this point, Diaboromon had started bouncing around the digital field. Kazu felt frustration build up in his chest and hand as he squeezed his DigiVice tighter. He could barely keep track of Diaboromon's movements, and couldn't come up with any obvious way of leveling the playing field.

"What's our strategy?" Andromon asked while trying to keep his eyes on the wild Digimon.

"Attack!" Kazu barked back without thinking.

With no hesitation, Andromon sprinted forward, in what looked like a direction that would allow him to intercept Diaboromon. In almost the same instant, the Mega responded in kind, flying at Andromon head-on with its claws out.

Andromon caught a claw in each of his hands, dredging up the ground under his feet as he was pushed backwards. In a battle of physical strength, there was clearly no contest.

"What does it take here?" Kazu all but shouted. He hastily swiped a 'strength boost' card, no clue as to what else their opponent was capable of.

Andromon's latest boost gave just enough muscle to hold his ground, but clearly not enough to overpower Diaboromon as the two remained locked in place. Kazu poured over his cards again, at a loss for any other ways to increase his partner's power, especially when considering that nothing that was currently in play seemed to be helping much.

Diaboromon quickly interrupted his thoughts, hopping off the ground slightly, just high enough so that it could plant both its legs on Andromon's chest. Pushing off its new position, it lodged itself loose from their standstill, sending Andromon flying backwards towards Kazu. Andromon remained standing, though that seemed like it could change at any moment.

Holding his D-Power against his chest, Kazu knew they only had one option left. He and Andromon would have to bio-merge, giving them all the power they would need to win this battle. Granted, they had never done so in the past, but given that Takato had been able to figure it out, Kazu was sure it wouldn't be difficult.

He concentrated, the same way he had done so to draw out the Blue Card at the top of the fight. Like with the card, he would will his Mega form into existence. Knowing he had found the right spot in the back of his mind, he opened his eyes and held his arm outward.

"Bio-merge activate!"

A long pause followed, succeeded by… another long pause.

Realizing that nothing was happening, Kazu brought his D-Power up to his ear and shook it for good measure. "Is thing broken or-?"

A roar from Diaboromon interrupted his thoughts, dragging his attention forward again. The wild Digimon swung its cable-y arms around like a flail, hitting Andromon's central mass with a single swing.

As his partner's chest armor strained and cracked on impact, Kazu clutched his own chest, feeling like a brick had just been thrown at it. The feedback from enemy attacks was maybe his least favorite part of the Tamer-Digimon bond, one of the key reasons being that it made him realize how much trouble he was in.

Before he could come up with any kind of response to the spike in fear he was feeling, Diaboromon sprang upward, its chest beginning to glow a deep red.

"WEB WRECKER!"

The energy bomb fired, connecting with Andromon and sending him flying. Between the brand new source of pain and just the sheer shock of the situation, it was already too late when Kazu realized that his partner was flying in his direction. Kazu fell backwards, having to resort to sliding on the ground to move, though wasn't fast enough to avoid Andromon landing right on his left leg.

Kazu yelled and cursed with the impact, insult being added to injury as his partner reverted back to his Champion form. Now with a more bulbous and heavy Digimon on top of him, he stopped trying to pull himself free and focused his energy elsewhere.

"Hey, you gotta get up, you big lugnut!" Kazu shouted, though Guardromon didn't so much as move in response. Kazu looked around, realizing he'd lost his grip on his DigiVice and modify cards. He spotted them pretty quickly, though they were very clearly too far away for him to reach.

Snarling and growling caught Kazu's attention once more, reminding him that Diaboromon was very much still present, glaring down at them from a few meters away.

"What are you looking at?" Kazu asked, his voice weaker than he expected. Again, he got no response.

Kazu's first instinct was to lash out. After all, this whole situation had to be someone's fault. His friends were missing, having left him alone to fight a Mega on his own. It was no wonder he had lost given that his team didn't have his back.

As though ice were forced against his neck, however, Kazu's thoughts went stiff and realization took over. None of the thoughts that had just run through his head even remotely resembled his circumstances. He had spent weeks avoiding his friends, he had ignored the suggestion to meet up with them when the bio-emergence had first occurred, and he had chosen to try and fight a Mega all on his own.

This was his own fault, and as much as part of his brain was still doing back-flips, there was no logical way to blame Kenta, Jeri, or any of his friends.

Feeling dizzy all of a sudden, Kazu leaned backwards, finding a view of the afternoon sky waiting for him. The digital field had faded at some point during the fight, which not only meant that he had lost the fight, but he had failed at keeping a dangerous Digimon from escaping into the city.

A red glow caught his attention again, not surprised at all to find Diaboromon charging another attack. With survival of the fittest being the way of the Digital World, there weren't many other ways this fight could have gone.

"I'm sorry, Guardromon," Kazu said just as he heard the attack fire.

Kazu heard an explosion shortly after that, though to his own surprise, he found that he and his partner were still intact. He focused despite fuzzier vision, realizing a blue aura surrounded them, a blue aura that he could tell was heart-shaped despite his perspective of it.

Outside his new shield, a purple energy blast blindsided Diaboromon, prompting it to leap off in the opposite direction. A dark, winged figure flew into his vision shortly after, clearly bent on pursuing it.

"Beelzemon!" Ai's voice, causing her partner to pause and look over his shoulder, hesitating before holding his position.

"Hang on, Kazu!"

Turning one more time at the sound of his name, Kazu could just make out Kenta and MarineAngemon coming towards him. He didn't see much else, however, as he finally blacked out.