There. Safe, for the moment.
I looked over Leomon, staring at his form.
Unconscious, but aside from that...
I couldn't see any injury. My vision flickered slightly, and I noted that there were no signs of pain in his Heart.
He'd probably be fine, then.
"Congratulations on gaining a partner, Jeri." I said, glancing at her.
She looked up, smiling, before turning her head back to her partner.
The ground shifted underneath them, rock transforming into plush cushion- just to make sure that they were a bit more comfortable.
Another thought, and four sofas appeared, surrounding Leomon.
Calumon jumped out of my arms, leaping over to the closest sofa, settling down comfortably.
Takato, Guilmon, Henry, and Terriermon quickly took a seat themselves, while Rika only got halfway there before she realised her partner wasn't following her.
"Renamon?" Rika asked.
"We need to get stronger." Renamon stated, catching everybody's attention.
I looked at her, noticing that all the others did the same, even Jeri.
"If it weren't for Leomon coming back, Vikaralamon would have managed to get into the city." Renamon said.
I leaned back, mildly lost.
I hadn't seen their battle, after all.
"We need to get stronger." Renamon stated again. "Vikaralamon was very powerful. Even all three of us had a hard time against him. And he was only an Ultimate- he serves an even more powerful Mega. To fight against that, we must achieve an even greater power. We must achieve Mega ourselves."
They looked down, most of them frowning. Jeri looked... sort of lost, but it struck me that she didn't know anything about... well, the Sovereigns, the D-Reaper, and all that.
Takato looked up, his lips pursed.
A moment later, he turned to me. "Any ideas?"
I paused, looking at him. "Some." I admitted. "Some."
My head tilted to the side. "To achieve Mega... is no easy task. Possible, yes, but not easy."
I looked upwards. "It actually has a variety of methods that can be done to achieve it, but..." I shook my head. Best not to get too far off track. "When you Digivolve to Ultimate, you're drawing on Calumon's power to do so. There is, technically, no reason why you can't so the same to achieve Mega."
"I'm hearing a 'but' there." Rika said.
"But, there's the minor problem that achieving Mega that way would have all the same problems with achieving Ultimate that way." I looked at Calumon. "Namely; that it would be reliant on Calumon. If something were to happen to him, or if you were simply not able to draw on his power, you would not be able to achieve either Mega or Ultimate."
Rika nodded. "What else?"
"Fusion." I said. "A method of reaching the power of a Mega level would be fusing together. However, I'm not even sure if that's actually possible with Renamon, Guilmon, and Terriermon; they're all of different attributes, Data, Vaccine, and Virus. To say nothing of the fact that even if it does work, there would be the minor problem of reducing the number of available fighters- which is bad for a number of reasons."
"Last resort then." Henry stated. "Anything else?"
I paused.
"There... might be another way." I started delicately. "It is, in a way, similar to fusion, but..."
"What?" Takato asked.
"Instead of fusing together two or more Digimon to achieve higher levels of power, one would fuse a Digimon and a Human pair."
They recoiled.
"That's possible?" Rika asked.
"Indeed. Such a thing is known as Biomerging." I stated. "And while such a thing is both very powerful, there are both conditions and drawbacks to it."
"What?" Rika demanded.
"To start; Biomerging is only possible when the bond between a Human and a Digimon pair is incredibly, undeniably strong." I said, fully and completely serious. "You six are all very, very close, however, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem for you. Jeri and Leomon, however, only recently became partners, and, as such, they would not be able to Biomerge. Furthermore; there is another problem."
I looked to the side.
"But before I talk about that, can one of you wish for another Blue Card?"
They blinked at the sudden change of topic, before Takato pulled out a card, holding it in the air.
"I wish for a Blue Card." He smiled.
A moment later, the card C̷͠h̸͢a͏̵͘n̴̵ģ̶͡e͟d, shifting into the familiar solid blue.
Takato handed it to me, but I wasn't paying attention to him.
Rather, I was looking at the DigiGnome that was hovering within the connection between this dimension and the Digital World.
The same DigiGnome from last time, I couldn't help but notice.
"Would you please enter this dimension, DigiGnome?" I asked, noting the surprise in its Heart as I spoke to it.
"Wait, what?" Takato asked.
I was saved from answering him when, in a flash of light, the DigiGnome entered this dimension fully, appearing in the air above me.
"Thank you." I nodded at it.
I trilled, floating downwards and landing on the back of my sofa.
"What is that?" Henry asked.
"A DigiGnome." I stated. "Now, anyway, this is important. The other condition and drawback of Biomerging is that, in order for it achieved, both parties of the fusion must be made out of data."
They blinked.
"But, then how does..?" Takato trailed off. "But we're not made out of data!"
"And therein lies the problem, Takato." I said. "In order for the Human part of the duo to be made out of data, they must be inside the Digital World. Under normal circumstances, this means that the only place where it is possible to Biomerge would be the Digital World."
"Humans can enter the Digital World?" "Under normal circumstances?" Henry and Rika asked at the same time.
"Yes, to both." I leaned back. "Under normal circumstances, if a Human were to enter the Digital World, they'd be converted into Data. Just the same, however, if they were to enter the real world, they would be converted back into matter. However... it is possible to allow Biomerging outside of the Digital World."
"I'm hearing another 'but'." Rika said.
"But, Rika, it's only sidestepping the problem." I looked at them. "The problem is that you're made out of matter. In order to allow Biomerging in the real world, that must change. Essentially, you must be transformed into Digital Lifeforms yourselves."
They paused.
"We have to become Digimon?" Takato asked.
"No, Takato. You would have to become a Digital Lifeform. Not a Digimon. While all Digimon are Digital Lifeforms, not all Digital Lifeforms are Digimon."
Squares and rectangles.
"I... if that happens, what happens to us?" Rika asked.
"Not... much, all things considered. You would become a Digital Lifeform, but apart from being made out of data, there wouldn't be that much of a difference. You would still look like you do, still need to eat, and drink, and all that. The underlying nature of your existence would change, but... you would still be you."
"So what are we waiting for?" Takato asked, looking at me.
"Takato, the very nature of your existence would change. Don't you at least want to think about it a little bit more?" I asked.
"I..." Takato looked away for a second, before turning back to me, an odd determination in his eyes.
A determination that I'd seen before- in both Naruto and Sasuke.
"There isn't much to think about." He stated. "If we do this; then we can merge with our partners, and if we can do that, we can reach Mega. If we can do that, then we can stop the Sovereigns, and the D-Reaper, and all the other Digimon, and protect a lot of people."
I stared at him.
"You..." I shook my head. "You are going to go far, Takato."
He smiled.
"So, how do we do this?" He asked.
I turned my head to the side, looking at the DigiGnome. It was smiling, anticipation in its Heart.
"If you truly wish to become a Digital Lifeform, then you need only wish it." I said.
Carefully, I picked up the DigiGnome, holding it in the palm of my hand.
"This one will grant your wish- but do keep in mind, you must truly want it."
He nodded.
The DigiGnome smiled wider, beginning to hover above my palm.
"I wish I could Biomerge with Guilmon." Takato stated, resolute.
The DigiGnome outright grinned. "I'm helping!"
Then, it glowed, pulsing with bright, white light, before the light shot at Takato, hitting him.
He didn't even twitch as it hit him, covering him with luminous radiance.
A couple moments later, it faded, and Takato slowly inspected himself.
"I don't feel any different." He said.
"You smell different, Takato." Guilmon sniffed. "Nicer?"
"Thanks, Guilmon."
He stood up, stretching slightly.
"Right." He nodded. "So, how do we Biomerge?"
"First off, go over there." I pointed away from us. "I have no idea how big your Mega Level form will be, and I'd wager that most of us don't fancy getting crushed."
He smiled, before heading off, Guilmon eagerly following after him.
"How big can Mega Levels get?" Jeri asked.
"You've seen Growlmon and WarGrowlmon. Whatever the Mega Level is, it'll probably be quite big." Gallantmon wasn't actually that big, all things considered- certainly not as big as, say, MegaGargomon, but still fairly tall.
Takato and Guilmon stopped, facing each other. "Ready?"
Guilmon nodded.
Takato smiled.
Faintly, I heard the sound of beeping, and noticed Takato pulling out his D-Power.
There was a flash, and, a moment later, a red pillar of light stretched into the sky, temporarily obscuring them both.
I leaned back, watching and waiting.
The light faded with a single burst- and I froze, because what came out was not Gallantmon.
Two crimson, burning red wings spread out, the bottoms of the wings seeming tattered. They were attached to a dark red, black, gold and white form, the lower body seeming like a spiked, serrated tail. At the waist, there was a metallic armour piece, rimmed with gold, but otherwise deep red. The arms had strangely shaped golden blades attached, the sedge a shining silver. On the chest, a glowing red Digital Hazard symbol was present. Two shoulder pads were also adorned with the Digital Hazard symbol, though both of those were deep black on gold.
"T-Takato?" Jeri whispered.
He looked down at us, and I saw his eyes, glowing red, and filled with a strange, dark malevolence.
There was, however, a single, important thing.
They were not the eyes of an unintelligent beast.
His mouth opened, revealing a set of pearly white, very, very sharp teeth.
"I'm Megidramon now."