Fire consumed IceDevimon's form, the Digimon himself screaming in pain as he was charred to a cinder, unable to get away thanks to the grip I had on his arms.

Not to say that he wasn't trying, however. Oh no, he was definitely trying, yanking against me, pulling backwards, digging his fingers into my arm, attempting to force me to let go.

But I wasn't.

I upped the intensity of the flames, making sure that the heat was going nowhere but where I wanted it to go; IceDevimon.

Though the 'ice' part was no longer accurate, the fire that covered the both of us having removed any semblance of cold from him.

The intensity of the flames climbed higher, and IceDevimon fell silent, though his mouth was still open in a scream. He just wasn't making any noise.

I was, admittedly, somewhat impressed that he was still alive, managing to survive even through this.

I was not impressed enough to let him live.

Again, the intensity of the flames went even higher, IceDevimon's body literally beginning to disintegrate from sheer heat, starting with his overly thin wings.

The tips went first, seemingly evaporating at the edges, which continued inwards, leaving the thin wings seemingly skeletal. His skin began to flake, burned black from my flames.

But even that didn't kill him. Durable indeed, for a Champion Digimon.

For a final time, I increased the intensity of the flames, going over the limit of what IceDevimon could take, his entire body wavered, before promptly collapsing into data. His Heart and Soul floated upwards, the Digimon well and truly dead.

My hands dropped to my sides, and I let the flames that covered me extinguish, winking out without so much as a hint that they had ever existed in the first place.

That... had been surprisingly cathartic.

"Okay, when you said that you didn't like that guy, you really didn't like that guy."

"No I did not, Takato." I turned around, facing Takato, Guilmon, Rika, Kyubimon, Henry and Terriermon. "As far as Digimon go-" I paused. "As far as sapient beings in general go," I corrected myself. "IceDevimon was a particularly unpleasant person. Did you know that he actually kept trophies of his defeated opponents?"

"Trophies?"

"The frozen bodies of Digimon that he didn't absorb." I said. "He had quite the 'collection', actually. It included more than a few Rookies, a couple Champions, and even an Ultimate."

"Not an opponent to take lightly." Kyubimon noted.

"No. Although I'm confident that you would have been able to defeat him if you had worked together."

"Work together?" Rika scoffed. "Why?"

"When lives are on the line, Rika, you should not hesitate to." I stated, utterly serious. "And make no mistake, against IceDevimon, all of your lives were on the line. Kyubimon's especially."

"What do you mean?" Henry asked.

"Kyubimon is a Data-type Digimon. IceDevimon was a Virus-type, and a powerful one at that. Alone, Kyubimon would be very hard-pressed to overcome IceDevimon. Guilmon can get away with it, being another Virus-type, and also having a lot of raw power behind him. Terriermon is a Vaccine-type, which would be great against Viruses like IceDevimon, but Terriermon doesn't have the kind of raw power that he'd need to win against IceDevimon." I paused for a moment, looking at Henry. "The only way he'd be getting out of that battle alive is through some serious effort and modify cards on your part, or, more likely, Digivolving into Gargomon."

Henry twitched, frowning.

"You can't hold that off forever, Henry." I said. "One day, you'll fight someone who you won't be able to overcome with talent and skill. They'll be trying to absorb Terriermon, and you'll run into the choice of either letting Terriermon Digivolve, or letting Terriermon die. Perhaps it might not be Terriermon's life that is in danger, but it is a choice that you will come across. Better to answer it now, on your own terms, than later, in the heat of battle."

Henry slumped.

"Not that you need to make that decision right at this very moment, however. Just soon."

I turned around, noting that IceDevimon's data was floating towards Kyubimon. I also saw that there was quite a few Hearts heading in our direction. "As an aside, we best make ourselves scarce. There's quite a few people heading in our direction and, no offense intended, Kyubimon isn't exactly the definition of stealthy."

"So," I began. Impmon spun around, crying out in surprise. "How have you been doing?"

"How have I been doing? I've been doing just great!" He shouted. More irritable than ever, I see. "Met this jackass in a cloak, keeps following me around!"

My head tilted to the side. "You're even more rude now than ever, I see." I moved forwards, taking a seat on the ledge next to him.

He scowled, turning around, facing away from me.

For a while, I just sat there, looking over the streets of Shinjuku. I didn't say anything, and neither did Impmon, who petulantly kept facing away from me.

"What do you want?" He finally snapped.

"Nothing. I simply came here to see how you were doing." That got his attention. He spun around, glaring at me.

"For what?!"

"To see how you were handling nearly dying at the hands of Devidramon." I answered.

"Why?!"

"Because, despite your rudeness and your volatile attitude, I found myself concerned for your well-being."

He stared at me. "I don't need to be babied." He spat.

"I have no intention of babying you, Impmon." My head tilted to the side. "Which doesn't change the fact that I wanted to check up on you."

"I'm not some toy to be bandied about." He glared- which was not entirely focussed on me.

"I never said that you were, Impmon. Quite the opposite, in fact." I straightened up again. "Although, I can understand why you would say that."

"Oh, what the hell would you know..." He slumped.

"I know that you had the... unfortunate luck to be the would-be partner of a pair of children, who were far too young to understand that responsibility." I kept staring straight ahead, even when his head snapped to me in shock. "Yes Impmon, I know about Ai and Mako."

"Really..." He sneered.

"Yes. And like I said, it was unfortunate."

"Unfortunate for me."

"Indeed." I nodded. "But also unfortunate for them."

He stared at me.

"Tell me, Impmon. Do you understand the differences between young Humans and young Digimon?"

"No." Impmon stated. "And I don't want to know, either."

I paused.

Slowly, I nodded.

"Very well."

"What?"

I stood up, looking down at Impmon. "Take care, Impmon."

You've got a long road ahead of you.