"Do you recall what I said about Digital Hazards; and how they were things that had the capacity to cause immense destruction and threaten the existence of the Digital World?"

Megidramon nodded.

"You're now one of them." I cut straight to the point. "When you got angry before, did you... feel anything?"

Megidramon looked thoughtful. "No." He eventually stated.

"Right." I nodded. "So you didn't notice, but when your anger rose, you began to have a deleterious effect on this dimension."

"Deleterious?" Megidramon said the word slowly, sounding it out.

I paused for a moment.

Right, ten year olds. And Guilmon, who was only a few weeks old.

"You were literally beginning to destabilize reality." I stated. "If that had been kept up, you would have caused this dimension to collapse."

Megidramon didn't pale, but it certainly seemed like a near thing.

"Oh." Megidramon said, after a few moments of silence. "That's bad."

"Very bad." I agreed. "In other words; you need to either remain calm, find a way to direct that power so that you don't accidentally destroy reality, or separate before you can do too much damage. Hardly any point in fighting to defend the world if you're just going to destroy it in the process."

Megidramon nodded.

His eyes closed, and he took a deep breath. I saw the connection between Takato and Guilmon twist slightly, and a moment later, there was a flash of crimson light, Takato's and Guilmon's Hearts and Souls separating.

The light faded, and Takato and Guilmon slowly walked back over to us.

"Last resort, then." He nodded, sinking into one of the sofas. Guilmon collapsed next to him, his head in his partner's lap. Takato's hands automatically began scratching behind Guilmon's ears.

"Don't hesitate to use it, Takato." I cautioned. "The world can handle a couple minutes of Megidramon if you truly need its power. And make no mistake, against the Sovereigns and the D-Reaper, you will need that power." Especially against the D-Reaper.

He nodded again.

The DigiGnome trilled, the sound light and musical, smiling at Takato and Guilmon.

It turned to face Rika and Henry, its head tilting to the side. I saw the curiosity bloom in its Heart, mixed with no small degree of anticipation. "Help?"

Rika sighed. "Oh, whatever. May as well do this now instead of later." I couldn't help but notice that there was a certain eagerness in her Heart as she said those words, though. "I wish I could Biomerge with Renamon."

The DigiGnome grinned. "Yay, helping!"

It glowed for a moment, before shooting a light at Rika, in much the same manner as it had with Takato.

She twitched slightly as it faded, holding her arms out in front of her, clenching and unclenching her hands.

She frowned. "Don't... feel any different."

"Yeah." Takato smiled. "What, did you not believe me?"

The DigiGnome turned to Henry. "More help?"

Henry frowned slightly, before speaking. "I wish I could Biomerge with Terriermon."

A few moments later, he stood up, the glow fading.

He took a few deep breaths. "You weren't kidding. I feel exactly the same."

Terriermon jumped up, landing on Henry's head, smiling. "This is going to be awe-"

A groan interrupted him, catching the attention of all of us- mostly because it hadn't come from any of us.

We turned, as one, to Leomon, whose eyes were beginning to open.

"Leomon!" Jeri called, hovering over him.

Leomon's eyes snapped open, twitching slightly. His looked upwards, finding Jeri slightly to the side of him.

"Jeri." He greeted, pushing himself upwards. He looked around, finding all of us nearby. His gaze lingered on the DigiGnome a bit longer than it did for the rest of us, but I was pretty sure that was because he hadn't seen it before.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." I nodded.

"Are you hurt?" Jeri asked.

Leomon stretched slightly. "No. I feel fine." He frowned, standing up. "Better than fine, actually. What happened?"

"Long story short, you and Jeri became partners." I stated. "Beyond that, you'll have to ask the others. I don't actually know what happened that lead up to that."

"Leomon got crushed by a... energy ball thing from Vikaralamon." Takato supplied. "Then a D-Power appeared in Jeri's hands and she used it to heal him."

Beside me, the DigiGnome trilled, smiling. "I helped!"

Was that... satisfaction in its Heart?

"You were one who gave it to her, weren't you?"

It nodded, its head rapidly shaking up and down.

Definitely satisfaction.

"Okay, I can't hold off anymore." Rika shook her head. "What is that thing?"

"They're called DigiGnomes." Which I've already said before. "They're a type of Digital Lifeform that exists in the Digital World, much like Digimon." I leaned back, enjoying the plush cushions. "They have the power to grant the wishes."

Rika paused. "It was the DigiGnomes who gave us the Blue Cards, wasn't it?"

"Indeed." I gestured to the DigiGnome. "In fact, the one who granted you those cards is also this very DigiGnome."

The DigiGnome smiled proudly.

"They are very helpful beings." I stated, watching the DigiGnome trill in response to that.

"Still kind of stuck on the part that they can grant wishes." Henry muttered. "How is such a thing even possible?"

"That's a very, very good question."

A few moments passed, before Rika sighed. "You don't know how, do you." It wasn't a question.

I answered anyway. "Not a clue."

"While this has been... enlightening," Leomon interrupted. "I do have to ask; where are we?"

"Inside a dimensional pocket that runs parallel to the real world." I stated. "I brought us here after the battle to get a little privacy."

Leomon nodded.

"Anybody else have any questions?"

"Ah... just a few." Jeri spoke up. She turned to the DigiGnome. "What... was said before, were you the one who gave me this Digivice?"

It nodded, smiling and laughing.

"Thank you."

Ooh.

The sheer amount of emotion on her voice just then...

Yikes.

"Anybody else?"

Nobody said anything.

"Right then. Back we go."