Ch4

It's three in the morning, yet he's already wide awake in his room, staring at the ceiling. Since the 'accident' that happened two days ago, he has been unable to sleep like usual, always wakes up very early in the morning. Not that he's scared of that Digimon, but something else, and that something else is that he just can't stop thinking about him. On that ceiling, he sees him laughing with his smug face.

Tired of staring at the ceiling, he rolls from side to side of his bed. Then stop to get his D-Ark, only to recall that his D-Ark is with his sister. It's not really his own D-Ark, he shares it with his sister unlike the other tamers for some reason. At first, they don't even have it and fighting over their partner. Then it suddenly gifted by a Digimon called Digignomes. When they saved him, he didn't even see that Digignomes and it was also just a theory from his older friends, but he believed it nonetheless. When he and his sister finally have it, the thing that shows their bond, their partner is forced to leave them.

"When will you come back.." he pouts and huffs before closing his eyes, trying to fall asleep again.

Still unable to sleep, he gets out of bed and heads over to his desk. Two pieces of paper can be seen pinned to a board on the wall, those are drawings of Impmon and they are on his side. He grabs a pencil and starts to draw. Unfortunately, the lights suddenly cut off. He can't even recall the last time they got a power cut, and it's so strange to happen at this hour.

A knock on his door startled him, but he quickly opened it. It's his sister holding their D-Ark. The D-Ark is turned on.

Mako is more interested in why his sister already up at this hour. "Why are you here? You umm.. should sleep."

"And what are you doing right now? Hmm!?" She asked him back with an annoyed face, to which he replied with an awkward laugh. "Hmph! So... what do you think?"

Ai shows the D-Ark, it's showing a strange dot that looks like the pin point of a location. They look at each other, then smile. Carefully, they tiptoe out of their house, hoping their parents won't catch them in action.

A buzzing sound from his phone interrupted his peaceful slumber, forcing the boy to open his eyes with an annoyed groan. He blindly trying to get his phone with his right hand while the other one rubs his eyes. He lets out a long yawn. Then it stopped, prompting him to get back to sleep. Still gathering his soul to even think, he lies on his bed again. But then his phone buzzing again, and this time he's able to reach it in time.

"Hey! You notice that as well?" Said the person on the other side.

He barely able to hear that. "H-Huh..? Jian..? Is that you?" Taking a deep breath, he tries to get his mind together. "J-Jian? Why are you calling me?"

"What? Takato, our D-Ark acting up again! Can't get through Ruki and Kazu, but I'm on my way to meet Kenta." Takato glances at his D-Ark and slowly walks toward the bathroom, still holding his phone in his hand. "Meet me at the thing it shows, Yamaki and Hypnos isn't picking up my call."

The call stopped and he noticed something strange after he washed his face, his room is dark. He tried to flick the switch a few times to no avail, then he peeked outside, and that's when Takato realized something is truly wrong. His neighborhood is dark as well. After he changed his clothes and grabbed his goggles, Takato wasted no time and headed over to the location.

On the way, he keeps his eyes on his D-Ark. Could this be him? He thought. This seems not to be it, there is no digital field in sight, at least from what he can see. If there is one, he should've noticed it from afar with this blackout. Takato's steps start to get faster, he worried that something bad is about to happen again. Especially after what happened last time. His wish to meet a Digimon again was fulfilled, but that wasn't what he expected at all. With his steps getting faster and mind thinking other things, Takato bumps into someone else and both of them fall.

"Oww! Ah.." He quickly regains his focus and sees two familiar faces. "Ai? Mako?"

"Ah! Takato!" Ai helps her brother first, then turns to the older tamer. "Did something happen?"Our D-Ark is turned on."

Before Takato could answer, they heard footsteps coming towards them. It's their glasses friend. Kenta panting and sweating quite a lot, he seems to have run all the way from his house. "Did I miss something?" He said it in between pants. "What's with this blackout anyway? It's hard to find my own glasses."

They have a brief exchange before moving again, this time in a group of four. When they arrived at the location, two people had already waited for them. Jian looks calm, but Ruki isn't. She sighs at Takato, but tries her best to smile at Ai and Mako.

"Took you long enough, where is he?" Asked Ruki. Takato shrugs, he doesn't have any good answers for that. "Well, I don't expect much. Also, Juri didn't pick up my call. Or rather it's not connected at all, her phone is out of battery or something."

Takato puts aside both of them, this doesn't look like a dangerous situation for now. "So, how can we track whoever did this? Hypnos is out of question right?"

"Yeah.. can't get any of them, even Yamaki or Miss Ohtori. But" Jian points out in one direction, the streetlight starts to go out one by one in that direction. "Whoever that is, they show us the way."

"Well, what are we waiting for then?"

Ruki sighs again. "We're waiting for you Goggle-Head, what else you think we waiting before?" She said it with an annoyed tone. After that Ruki turns to the sibling with a happy face, trying to fill Juri's role for now. "Oh, you two can keep up?"

"Of course!" Both of them replied at the same time.

Spearheaded by Takato, the tamers are heading towards danger once again. Their only hope is that this one is one of their partners who came around, not a hostile Digimon who wants to suck their blood.

A place stands out in the middle of this dessert, it's a giant rock. Now it's more like a home for some Digimons with caves carved on it. It's just like a normal cave, but instead of going down, it's going up. The rock itself is on par with a three-story building's height, but only has two 'floors'. On the base floor, there are two entrances with several rooms. The upper floor has three holes, only to be used like some kind of large windows. Right now, the place is a mess with Digimons fighting inside of it.

Some explosions and blunt weapons hitting the cave wall could be heard from outside, then a green Digimon thrown out from the upper floor. Goblimon hits the ground head first before their data starts to break apart.

"Get them!" Shouts Ogremon to his subordinates, four Goblimons. Those Goblimons growl in unison and start attacking them again.

Terriermon trying to dodge a barrage of wooden club swings, takes a few steps back and trips on a rock. Whoosh! Another swing about to hit him, Impmon quickly takes the hit with his arm and punches Goblimon back. He quickly gets up and uses his skill. "Terrier Tornado!" It sends that Goblimon flying towards Ogremon, causing the champion level to take some steps back.

"Blazing Ice!" Two Goblimons legs froze from Lopmon's attack. "Guys!" They instantly knocked down each by a fireball and a little tornado. Both of their data fizzles out to the air.

Watching his subordinates unable to defeat them makes Ogremon angry, he grabs the last Goblimon by their head and crushes it with his bone club. "Useless idiots! You embarrassing me." Ogremon moves closer, raising his right hand that holds his club. "Now don't get too happy, I'm not a rookie like those guys, or any of you for that matter."

Whoosh! Crack!

Ogremon swung his club, barely missed Lopmon but hit the cave wall and created a small crack on it. The moment his attack stops, Terriermon goes for offense and slaps his head. It did nothing to him. He tries to attack Terriermon first this time, only to be blinded by fireballs that hit his eyes. "Arrrghh!" The three of them start to give him non-stop attack.

"These won't work, we're too weak.." Said Lopmon in between attacks.

"Push him! Push him to that hole!" Shout Terriermon.

Their relentless attacks are starting to show some result, they just need to push him a bit more and make Ogremon fall. The champion throws his club in desperation, hitting Impmon and Terriermon. Ogremon then moves one step and punches Lopmon, the brown bunny pushed back a few meters away. "See, not so tough aren't ya~?" Asked Ogremon with a grin, he's right in front of Impmon. "Like I said, I'm no rookie like you idiots~"

Impmon throws another fireball at his eyes and gets up. "I know your mouth is that big and hard to close, but stop blabbering for a moment, will ya? I'll match your level if that's the only thing that matters in your eyes!" He tries to digivolve into Beelzemon, but his back feels like it's burning and being stabbed by blades. "Arrghh.." Impmon falls to his knees.

Watching his friend in pain and unable to attack, Terriermon decides to attack Ogremon who still tries to recover his vision. "Terrier Tornado!" Ogremon is just a step away from falling. The one that pushed him over the edge is Lopmon, the bunny jumps towards him and falls with him. "Lopmon! H-Hey, get up!" Said Terriermon as he helped Impmon. "Come on... bare with it okay.. Lopmon in danger.."

They limped to the outside, finding Lopmon on the sand and fine. Instead of them helping him, Lopmon helps Terriermon support Impmon and go inside the cave again. All of them are exhausted and still breathe erratically, especially Impmon. There are some beds so they put Impmon on one of them. Impmon stares at them while holding the pain, his back feels better after a few minutes of rest.

Impmon eyes still on Lopmon. "S-Sorry.." He faintly said to him. "I should've.. not chased that green gremlin.."

"Moumantai, it's okay Impmon.." Replied Terriermon. "I also can't stand this as well, what did we do to them? Nothing! Yet these pests won't quit coming at us! What is their problem!?"

With both of his friends on edge, Lopmon trying to be the cool-headed one. "I'm okay, that Ogremon broke my fall. Just get some rest, okay? You did more than enough before. More than both of us." He relieved when Impmon nodded and closed his eyes to rest. Lopmon then pats Terriermon's shoulder, fortunately his friend could relax and take a break as well. They need that more than anything right now.

Both Lopmon and Terriermon aren't moving from that bed and instead just rest beside Impmon. It's a mix of exhaustion and comfort for both of them, it somewhat feels okay to be very close like this after two days spent together. Their ears lay on top of Impmon's body like a blanket, just like what they have done since they met again. Normally they would've break into fights, but after a long time without their human partners, they craved some physical affection. Even both Terriermon and Impmon felt the same, they just wouldn't say it out loud.

Few hours later, digital world is back on the day. Outside of that cave, it is back to that bright and arid dessert again. Lopmon gets up and checks what's in this cave, hoping that he will find something useful.

"Look what I found." Said Lopmon as he brought them some meat on a bone, it looked cooked well enough.

They look at each other, then back to Lopmon. "What the... we're still in digital world, right? Where did you get these human's food?" Asked Terriermon.

"Our world influences each other, it's not strange that we start to copy some of their stuff." Lopmon takes a bite. "I mean... isn't Jian fused with you before?"

Terriermon nodded, still a bit confused. "Yeah.. he.. he's turned into data of some sort when he comes here."

"That means these are just a bunch of data." Impmon also grabs one for himself, he's surprised that it tastes quite good. "So this should work like.. let's just hope you didn't give us some virus." When he finished a piece of it, he could feel that he gained some energy.

It's not taking a long time before they devour those meats. Those meat sizes aren't small either, each one of them is the size of Lopmon's or Terriermon's ear. Yet they were able to eat all of them easily, possibly due to their exhaustion and injury. Still, they were unable to fully recover their strength. If they are forced to fight another battle, they will drain it all again. Impmon also has a bigger problem, he asked Lopmon to check the wounds on his back.

Not even once did Impmon get hit on the back, most severe case was when his back hit the wall when he got pushed back by their enemy. There are no direct attacks that hit him there. Lopmon didn't need to check it thoroughly, he only needed a glance. "Impmon.. umm.." He's unsure how to put it.

Impmon gets annoyed when he's not getting the answer right away. "Just spit it out, I'm dying right?" He then gets a slap in the head by Terriermon, his jaw drops yet he's not mad for some reason. Something just felt okay when his friend did that. Lopmon still afraid that they get into a fight, but they seem to agree not to do it even without talking.

"I don't need you to drag our moral to bottomless pit, had enough of these nonsense from your mouth."He sits across Impmon and glares at him, then his gaze slowly turns away from him. "It's getting worse, like.. deeper and darker."

Impmon moves closer and pinches Terriermon's right ear, though it's just to get his attention. "Geez, I'm just joking alright~" He said it with a smile on his face. "Beside, who's going to keep these weak bunnies alive if it's not me~?" Terriermon still not giving any response, he still pissed off about that. Since his attempt to brush that off as a joke failed, Impmon sits beside him. "Arrgghh, are you really that dense!? Look! Ai and Mako are waiting for me, you think I'm just gonna give up? It's just an old scar, you know that. So cut this moody act, you stupid bunny."

"Fine. Just.. just don't say something like that again, I don't want to see something happen like Guardromon again."

"Moumantai~ It won't happen again~"

Watching Impmon's attempt to impersonate his way of talking is quite annoying, but he still prefers that to the gloomy Impmon. Terriermon slaps his head again gently, this time Impmon laughs at it and their mood starts to get better. Suddenly, Lopmon panicked and pointed outside. There are some Digimons coming towards them, and there is a Goblimon in the front of the pack.

Impmon couldn't hold back his anger, that one Goblimon must have been from this place before. "How did.. How did we miss one!?"

"Don't ask me, I say we're focused too much on that Ogremon." Replied Terriermon. "What do we do now?"

"Those just a bunch of champion at best, I'll finish them. Stay here."

Before Impmon could go outside the cave, his shoulders were held by both of them. Lopmon shakes his head with a worried expression, same goes for Terriermon. "It's not wise to go like that. Your scars get worse each time you digivolve, Impmon." Warns Lopmon.

Pushing their ears away, Impmon about to go out alone. He believes that he can finish it quickly before anything gets even worse. But Terriermon holds him back again. "Moumantai Impmon, we can do it together." Impmon finally agree, he sighed and nodded to them.

They come out together only to watch a fire obliterate those Digimons in a second. The sudden threat has gone so suddenly as well. All of their attention is now focused on the sky, there is a huge Digimon coming down to them. They didn't run, just waiting. If this Digimon coming to get them, they can't run anyway, so all they can do is hope that this one is coming to help them or fight it.

Impmon chuckles. "Looks like our search is over, at least one thing worked out for us, eh?"

"N-Not enough.." Said the little creature, limping towards the next place and placing his limb on a pole. The large pestle on his back reacts and starts to make a crackling sound along with visible yellow electricity. In a matter of a few seconds, it absorbed nearby power, causing blackouts for several houses. All that power is transferred into his body. Slowly but surely, his breathing gets better and he stops trembling.

After a moment, his body adjusted to the surge of new power. He starts to move again while wondering if he should keep doing this. The current problem he needs to deal with is staying alive by absorbing this world source of energy, but he knows what he caused in this place before. "This just for survival, I'm sure they will forgive me" he mumbles to himself, trying to justify his deed.

Feeling much better, he continues his walk to find a good place to rest. After absorbing so much power, he noticed another source of electricity. It's a nearby power plant that is currently empty at this hour. He looks back and sees so many houses in the dark, which makes him uneasy about absorbing that one as well. Even though not all of his power has been recharged, he's borrowed more than enough for now. He can't afford to stay in this world for too long either. Still, he choose the power plant just in case those Digimons come to get him again. This way he can get spare energy if fights break out, although that's very unlikely to happen.

Just a few minutes after he pulled his wings and claws into his armor, he could hear some footsteps coming. Then, some humans come near him and they don't seem to notice him, his armor is spherical steel after all, and it's blending with the objects at the power plant. He is peeking from the hole for his head and there are six of them, all humans. As much as he wants to push them away, he needs to keep a low profile. But he notices one person, a boy who wears goggles on his head, though that boy is much taller than he could remember.

"You..." He said it out loud while trying to recall the boy's name. All of them startled and took a few steps back.

Since there is no reason to hide anymore, he fully shows himself. His wings and claws come out of holes on his armor, along with head and tail. The boy in question lifts a small device and scans him. "Sinduramon, an ultimate level Digimon which one of many Devas." Said the small device, which is a D-Ark.

"Do you even need to do that? Geez, rude~ You really can't even recall my face?" Siduramon sighs, his comb sways a bit when he does that. His body resembles a rooster with spherical armor protecting most of it. "Seriously? Come on now, at least my name kid. And you're the one who deleted me too."

Most of them didn't know, but Takato and Jian still remember him. That was quite some time ago and both of them becomes wary. Especially when Siduramon already grew to their current height.

As this is his first time meeting Siduramon, Mako naively asked his sister. "Is this big chicken a Digimon too?" He said this while pointing his finger at the Deva.

"I don't know.." Replied Ai. "It's just a big chicken in ball but Takato's D-Ark said he's a Deva."

Siduramon almost snaps when those two scan him again, only to see the same result as Takato. He takes a deep breath, he almost losing control and about to absorb the power in this city.

"Then are you coming to get your revenge?" Takato becomes more cautious, his right arm gestures to his friend on the back to stay still and get ready if something bad happens. He wants to think otherwise, but the first thing that Sinduramon mentions is their fight before.

"Calm down okay? I would've struck you down if I want to, I mean.. you're not with that red friend of yours~" He chuckles at Takato, still can't help but throw a little joke, even in this situation. His chuckle stopped when they heard a tire screeching outside of the building. "Oh, look who's coming to get me. Should we change the venue first? I'm not going to peck you boy~"

They look at each other, then some of them go out to see Hypnos, leaving Takato and Ruki to stay with Siduramon while Jian handles the talking. Despite being alone with Deva who had attacked them before, the two tamers aren't scared. From two of them, Ruki is the most skeptical about Siduramon. All because they beat them before, deleting the Deva to be exact. "Mind explaining why you here? Are you even the real Siduramon?"

Siduramon frowned, then answered her with an annoyed tone. "What kind of question is that? Didn't you listen to his D-Ark? Or those brat's D-Ark, I swear.. how dare they compare me to a chicken.." He ends it with a huff.

"Yes, but.. you deleted.. I mean, dead?" Argues Takato, he then lets out an awkward laugh. "And well, you are chicken in our eyes. A big one."

Once again, Siduramon almost lost his temper. "Don't call me-.. ohhhh, give me patience, Lord Baihumon, please.. patience.." Sinduramon feels like Takato is trying to anger him, but he needs to hold back his anger. Meanwhile, Ruki glares at Takato for a moment in disbelief. "Listen, I'll explain it along with them, and you don't need to worry about me. I'm not causing or wanting to make some trouble here."

"Oh, you can tell that to the people who's house clearly not in darkness right now." Scoffs Ruki. "I'm really sure they're happy right now."

"Okay! Look! I'm..." The Deva doesn't want to admit it, but he knows the truth. "I'm sorry, but if I don't absorb their power, I'm done for.." Both of their eyes widen in shock, because Siduramon looks fine right now. Not even a scratch on his body. "Also, you should be worried about someone else. I don't even know what's going on in there anymore. Everything is in chaos, and your partners might be in trouble as well."

Stepping into a plain filled with big rocks, Ryo and Pajiramon continue their search for the other tamer's partners. His D-Ark picked up two signals from the north the moment they arrived at this place. Unfortunately, they were forced to move slowly thanks to the strong, cold winds that wouldn't die down. It's almost reached a winter-like temperature without any snow. About half an hour later, they could see some small buildings from far away. All that he can make of it is some kind of security post, then a little camp. They also heard gunshots.

There are some ruckus that could be seen in that place. A group of Commandramons is lining up some beaten Digimons, but they don't seem to be about to finish them and just holding them at gunpoint.

"Grrr... Ryo.." Cyberdramon already growling at those Digimons, ready to charge forward at any second. "What are you waiting for?"

Ryo pats his partner's arm, trying to calm him down. It's already a good thing that Cyberdramon able to control his feral-side and still waiting for his order. "Hold on Cyberdramon, we still have time to think first." Cyberdramon huffed in anger, yet still obeying his partner. "I know we're racing with time, but-"

The sheep deva cut off his words and replied instantly. "Your friends are beyond that place, Ryo. Aside from that, I can't let this slide as well."

At the same time, two Digimons that are held at gunpoint try to run. Commandramons start shooting at them, and gunshots alerting Ryo. "I'll go first!" He jumps and holds on to Cyberdramon's back before taking out one card. "Focus on saving them first, okay?" Cyberdramon nods. "Good, Hyperspeed" Ryo slashed a modifier card, giving Cyberdramon very fast movement.

The two Digimons who run away are Gaogamon and Labramon, they take their chance to flee with their speed. Commandramons are bipedal lizards that have rifles as their weapons, so they bet that those rookies accuracy will be hindered by the strong and cold wind in this plain. Like they predicted, most of their shots were missed completely, some of them thanks to their zigzag movement. But some of them still hit Gaogamon who has a bigger body than Labramon.

Labramon stops when her friend who should've been faster is slowing down. "Gaogamon!" She sees those Commandramons aiming at him and decides to slam her body against Gaogamon. Her friend is safe, but she takes his place in return.

"No!" Gaogamon almost losing consciousness himself, limping to her side. "Hang on! I'll-" Labramon shakes her head, she knows this is the end for her. She can't even tell Gaogamon to run as Commandramons get closer.

Ryo slashed two cards after Cyberdramon stood in front of them. "Digi Modify: Defense and Goliath" Cyberdramon grows bigger and stronger, those attacks from Commandromons not affecting him at all. Those two stare in awe at Cyberdramon, they witness Cyberdramon's sheer strength versus those rookies. The Ultimate level Digimon who already strong easily deletes those rookies with the power that comes from Ryo. One slash from his claw is enough to kill each of them, some slashes even delete two of them instantly.

To Gaogamon surprise, Cyberdramon isn't stopping at those Commandramons. He moves toward them and raises his claw. "Cyberdramon!" Ryo yells at him, ready to use the whip from his D-Ark, but Cyberdramon stops at his command. The ultimate grunts and lets Ryo down from his back, then takes a distance while watching the surroundings.

Gaogamon turns to his friend again, he can only watch as Labramon's data dissolves. Ryo leans to his side and pats his back, trying to give him some sort of comfort.

"Ryo.." Standing not far from them, Pajiramon stared at the other Digimons that freed by Cyberdramon. "We have to move, now." With a sigh, Ryo bids farewell to Gaogamon and walks away. He only made a few steps before being stopped by Gaogamon.

"I.. I'm not even-"

Pajiramon stopped him. "Enough, Gaogamon. Get to somewhere safe and rest." Said the deva bluntly. "You won't be any help with that body of yours, don't throw away your life. Don't make your friend's sacrifice go to waste." Gaogamon surprised that Pajiramon could understand what he was thinking, it's not just about repaying a life debt to Ryo, he wants revenge. Sadly, Pajiramon is right about this and he will obey the deva's order.

"At least.. let me tell you something.." He said it in between pants. "If I heard it right, they have some Digimons that might be the ones you're looking for.. I heard them talk about a strong small Digimon and.. another Digimon that swept by the data stream, they said they're special cases." Ryo looked at Pajiramon who stared back, they nodded at the same time. "Wait! I.. thank you, uhh.. Ryo? I will repay you back, somehow.."

Ryo smiles at him. "It's fine, don't think much about it, okay? Though, if you insist, then we can be friends." He waved his arms as he walked away. "I'll meet you again when this ends." He added.

They keep walking until they reach another 'post' of enemies, this time heavily guarded with some champions and ultimate level Digimons. Even Cyberdramon could tell that he can't barge in even if he wanted to. Beyond some buildings, there is a loud explosion and the sounds of Digimons fighting. Ryo looks at his D-Ark, there are two red dots that indicate his friends.

"Just beyond that, right?" Asked Pajiramon. "It seems like we need to knock on the front door." The deva glances at him when Ryo isn't responding right away. "Ryo?"

His eyes focused on his D-Ark, this time his D-Ark could tell who those Digimons were that were detected. "We need to do it quickly, Guardromon and Marinangemon might be in trouble.. a big trouble.."

It's just a few seconds, a single attack, and that's more than enough to decimate those Digimons. Their data vaporized from the sheer power of his flame, even the ground burned, albeit only for a moment after those Digimons were gone. What comes after it is a huge Digimon coming down from the sky, his body is bright red and orange. Any Digimon could recognize him instantly because he's one of the four gods that rule the Digital World, Zhuqiaomon.

Descending to the ground alone sends hot winds around him, so he carefully does that, not blowing them away. Zhuqiaomon also notices that their condition is very bad, though he doesn't really sympathize that much to them. "You just won't stop killing my servant, not in the past nor in the present. With the power from me, no less, you can't even do things by yourself aren't you? Pathetic." He scoffs at Impmon.

"Blame yourself you overcooked bird!" Lopmon and Terriermon gasped when the first thing Impmon does is insult one of the Sovereigns who's helping them. "Why don't you teach something to those servants of yours? I swear they have some virus in their heads or something." Said Impmon, tapping his finger on his head.

Zhuqiaomon almost snaps, he has never seen a Digimon so rude like this before. "Be grateful for your life, I gave you power and now saved you. That's your way of saying thanks? Like I said, you can't even do anything by yourself."

"Says the one who needs to order other Digimons around, too scared to fight by yourself~?"

They could feel everything getting hotter each second, and this heat obviously comes from Zhuqiaomon. Lopmon stands in front of Impmon and tries to calm Zhuqiaomon down. "H-He's just in a bad mood after what happened for past few days, we're sorry about that." His voice is shaking and Impmon clearly not backing down as well. He could understand why Impmon is angry but this could lead them down to a bad path. "Ah-ah umm, he-"

"SILENCE!" Zhuqiaomon's voice finally struck fear into all of them as Impmon forced to lower his gaze even just a bit. "Antyla-Lopmon.." The sovereign takes a long breath first, trying not to lose himself in his own anger. He had some talks with Azulongmon before about this. "Let's say I still consider you as traitor if that thing isn't the real threat, how could a deva be swayed by little girl?" Said Zhuqiaomon, he then turns to Terriermon. "And you, don't think I forgot that you challenged me into a fight before. You don't want to repeat that without that brat, right? I hope not."

Out of the three, Terriermon is the one that scared the most. He can't even get angry at Impmon who taunted this sovereign, opening his mouth alone feels so hard to do with the mental pressure that comes from Zhuqiaomon. Impmon still angry at Zhuqiaomon for the past and what Caturamon did a few days ago, he still believes that the deva is fully under sovereign command. Meanwhile, Lopmon wants to diffuse the situation but unable to do so thanks to his past relationship with Zhuqiaomon. The brown bunny is well aware that he can't do anything about this.

Suddenly, Zhuqiaomon turns to the right and lowers his body a bit before extending his left wings. The giant wings end right in front of them, now looking like a staircase that brings them to his back. They looked at each other, thinking the same thing yet unsure about it at the same time.

Zhuqiaomon growls and opens his beak again. "I already spent two days trying to find you, don't waste more of my time." Despite what he just said, none of them dare to take the first step. "Am I not clear enough!? Don't you want to meet those brats again!?"

They quickly climb to the sovereign's back, not just from what he just said but also from the fear that he emitted. Zhuqiaomon's back is warm, almost hot in fact. When they reach near his neck, he starts to fly back towards the sovereign's domain.

"Hey, I.." Impmon about to say sorry, yet he doesn't feel like he needs to do that. Plus, he still can't forgive what Zhuqiaomon did in the past. "How did you find us? Or, what do you need us for? Another pawn that you could throw away later?" He asked.

Lopmon and Terriermon are scared that he will drop them for that, but Zhuqiamon isn't responding or angry right away. "Because he's gone, you deleted him. I detected that. And yes, some pawns would be nice" Said the sovereign with a chuckle. "Though the useful ones would be only you and Antylamon. Let's save that for later, stop talking before I drop you to death."

Impmon huffed in annoyance, then closed his eyes. "Ohh scary~" He mocks the sovereign's threat. Surprisingly, Zhuqiaomon just chuckled at that. They all stop talking after that, not because he told them that but from exhaustion, which is a good thing for the sovereign as he really dislikes them.

Oh great, first update after I posted this story and I miss the target already. I already have another chapter ready but needs some check, and I could post it this year, but not going to. It's going to be up next week or in two weeks like my initial target. Thanks for reading and feel free to review this (I really need this tbh)