You know, it quite struck me until this very moment, but...

Zhuqiaomon is fucking tiny compared to Azulongmon.

Like, really. The difference between them is so...

Gah- focus.

"Zhuqiaomon." Azulongmon stated, remarkably unenthused.

"What are you doing?!" Zhuqiaomon screeched, his voice carrying only a tiny fraction of the anger that he was really feeling.

Oh boy. Here comes one of those conversations.

"Sovereign Zhuqiaomon." I greeted.

Zhuqiaomon's eyes briefly shot to me, glowing red, his face twisted in a snarl, before looking back at Azulongmon.

"First, you transformed the Catalyst, and hid it in the Human World! And now, you conspire with one of the beings that have been destroying our servants?!" Zhuqiaomon demanded.

"Conspire?" Azulongmon asked, floating a bit higher. "Cease your paranoid thoughts and hatred, Zhuqiaomon. And recall that it was you who sent our Deva to the Human World in the first place!"

"Those Humans are costing us our chance of survival! What else was I to do, sit back and await our destruction?!" Zhuqiaomon screeched.

"Those Humans are doing no such thing!" Azulongmon shouted. "What you believe is true and what is true are two entirely different things. You must see sense, Zhuqiaomon."

"Are you truly so arrogant, Azulongmon?" Pot, meet kettle. "It is our right, or destiny to throw off our shackles imposed by the humans!"

"Now who's being arrogant?" Azulongmon stated. "That is your belief, and your belief alone! I do not believe this. Baihumon and Ebonwumon do not believe this."

Are they ignoring me?

"And yet, none of you have proven yourselves right!"

They're ignoring me.

"And neither have you!"

A slight shifting sensation in my pocket had me bringing the DigiGnome out. I watched it as it yawned cutely, pouting up at the Sovereigns.

"Too noisy to sleep."

"I am trying!"

"Hey."

"And failing!"

"Hey!"

"I don't see you doing any better!"

I held my hands out in front of me, a small black ball appearing suspended in the air. Neither of them noticed.

"At least I have not gotten our servants pointlessly deleted!"

Oh, for fucks sake.

I flicked my hands up, sending the ball of Darkness up into the sky.

It exploded a few moments later, a massive burst of light and sound, akin to a severely oversized flashbang, neatly cutting off Zhuqiaomon's response.

"Now that I have your attention, how you stop arguing like a pair of squabbling children, and start acting like the powerful, old, wise, and most importantly; MATURE, Mega Level Digimon that you actually are?"

They hovered in the air for a moment, surprised, and to a very, very small degree, shocked.

"Yes." Azulongmon sighed. "We are the Sovereigns. It is very unbecoming of us to-"

"Do not even think of commanding me to-"

"Zhuqiaomon!" Azulongmon interrupted. "Shut up."

Zhuqiaomon stared at him.

"At any rate," I continued. "We were discussing the D-Reaper and how to stop it?"

"Indeed." Azulongmon turned to me, ignoring his colleague- who continued to float there in the sky. "I believe that you were talking about these... children?"

"Indeed." I echoed.

"Children?" Zhuqiaomon sneered. "If think some mere children can do anything against the True Enemy, then you are a fool!"

I shook my head, side to side, slowly. "You have no idea what those children are capable of. They certainly surprised us, didn't they?" I poked the DigiGnome on the cheek.

It trilled, smiling. "The gogglehead and the dino turn into the Doom Dragon!"

"I do have to ask, though." I looked up at Zhuqiaomon. "This vendetta you have against the Humans. Even knowing that the D-Reaper is coming, why do you pursue it? You have a much better thing to worry about, and conquering the Humans serves no practical purpose."

"They threaten our world! Our very survival!"

"They do no such thing. Most Humans were completely unaware of the very existence of Digimon until recently." My head tilted to the side. "And even those that were aware did not have the capacity to threaten the Digital World, much less you."

Although Takato and Guilmon now had that capacity. A capacity that they achieved by, contrary to Zhuqiaomon's beliefs, working together and bonding.

"You would have been better served in communicating with them, employing their help to save your world."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" Zhuqiaomon glared. "What could a few pitiful Humans do?"

"You would be surprised." I stated. "But just for the sake of pertinence, I will inform you that there are Humans who are already preparing to deal with the D-Reaper. Among them is the group who once went by the name of the 'Monster Makers'."

I saw the flash of recognition in his Heart.

"You know them. Perhaps I should not be surprised." I shook my head again.

"Irrelevant." Zhuqiaomon declared. "Though they may have created us, we have grown far beyond anything they had ever imagined!"

"Perhaps." I looked over the hole in the center of the Sovereign's Domain. "But do not underestimate them. You have grown much, but they are still very capable, and they will be helpful allies when the D-Reaper comes. And make no mistake, Zhuqiaomon, it shall come soon."

"We are running out of time." Azulongmon rumbled.

"Indeed. Your actions, Azulongmon, with the Catalyst, with the Light of Digivolution, have brought us more time than we would have otherwise had. This, I said before, but..." I glanced back up at them. "We are very nearly out of time. One of the Monster Makers, Shibumi, believes that we have less than a week before the D-Reaper comes."

"Then you must see reason and give me the Catalyst!"

"Reason? There is no reason in that task, Zhuqiaomon! Not before the D-Reaper arrives."

"Enough!" Azulongmon cut in, playing meditator. "This is no time to be focusing our energies on each other, especially not with so little time left!"

"We need the Catalyst, Azulongmon! Without it, we will never be able to raise an army to fight the D-Reaper!"

"Even if you could, it wouldn't help. The D-Reaper is an adaptive, mutating, evolving enemy. Pure, conventional force will not help against a foe like that. All such an army would be good for is slowing it down while we attempt to find another solution." I hung my head. "Which is exactly why I intend to help build one."

Azulongmon turned to me, surprised. "You... would give him the Catalyst?"

"No." I shook my head. "But... I do have another solution."