"I cannot, in good conscience, give you the Catalyst. Or, rather, I cannot give you Calumon."

I looked down, staring at the water beneath all of us.

"Though he may be the transformed form of the Catalyst, of the Light of Digivolution, it does not change the fact that Calumon now lives and breathes. He is alive, and I've found myself coming to care for him. I will not allow him to be used as a tool, but thankfully, it doesn't have to come to that."

I looked up, staring at Zhuqiaomon. "When the D-Reaper comes, I intend to ask Calumon to release the Light of Digivolution, to enable Digimon to Digivolve into their Mega Level forms." I looked at the DigiGnome in my hand. "And, furthermore, I intend to ask the DigiGnomes to spread that through the entire Digital World, enabling each and every single Digimon in existence to grow to their most powerful."

Pull what happened in the show, more or less.

The DigiGnome chirped, smiling and nodding. "We'll help!"

"But not a moment sooner." I looked up again. "Doing that now would be folly. All of those Digimon suddenly gaining immense power, without a common enemy to unite them?" I shook my head. "They'd do their best to destroy each other, and in doing so, harm our chances against the D-Reaper."

"Those that survive would be powerful." Zhuqiaomon stated.

"Raw power will not help against the D-Reaper." I noted. "It is not an enemy that can be fought with sheer, brute force. Even if those Digimon who survived would be stronger, it would be irrelevant. We'd have a better chance with a larger army, if only because it will take the D-Reaper longer to hunt them all down."

"You intend that this army of Digimon be distraction." Azulongmon realised.

"I do." I admitted. "I do not like it- I really do not like it, but a larger army will buy more time. More time to think, more time to act, more time to come up with an actual solution."

"To use-"

"If you have a better idea, Zhuqiaomon," I cut him off. "Then I am open to suggestions. I want nothing more than to save as many as possible, and this is how I approach the problem. I cannot do anything about it myself, so I intend to buy as much time as possible for those who could."

Two glowing blue eyes met four red ones, both Zhuqiaomon and I glaring at each other.

"The Monster Makers." Azulongmon began, catching our attention. "Could you deliver a message to them?"

"I could do more than that, Azulongmon." I nodded. I looked down at the DigiGnome in my hand. "With the help of this little one, I could put you into contact with them, but..."

It's after midnight in the Matter Dimension. The Monster Makers were sleeping at the moment- though I wasn't sure about Gorou.

The DigiGnome chirped. "I'll help!"

"Not for another several hours yet."

"I see." Azulongmon nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. It's the least I could do if you're willing to work with others."

"It will be our undoing!"

Would it kill you to shut the fuck up for a few moments, Zhuqiaomon?

"It won't. They want nothing more than to stop the D-Reaper. Your undoing will come about in your continuous, ceaseless, pointless paranoia!"

"This, I do not believe!"

"Then what will it take to make you believe?!"

Zhuqiaomon floated backwards slightly- and, too late, I realised what I had just said.

I have erred.

I glared at him, my eyes fixed on his form.

"I believe that they are too weak to help." He stated, some note of victory in his voice. "Prove to me; otherwise, and I might be willing to... allow them to help."

He tricked me. He tricked me.

"And what would it take," I delicately began. "to prove this to you?"

I paid close attention to his Heart. It wouldn't happen again.

"You said before;" Zhuqiaomon began, far, far too triumphant. "That those... children would surprise me."

I raised a non-existent eyebrow. "So I did."

Zhuqiaomon hovered closer. "Show me. This... surprise."

For a few moments, I stared at him.

This was...

Hmm.

"I will be back in ten hours." That would be enough time to... do whatever the hell it was that I found myself going to do.

"I will be waiting." Zhuqiaomon claimed. "And we shall see if they are worthy."

I didn't turn away from him as I addressed his colleague. "It was a pleasure, Azulongmon."

The DigiGnome chirped in my hand as I twisted space, taking a step that took us between worlds.

"Bye-bye!"

Seven hours later, I greeted Takato with four words I never want to say.

"We have a problem."

"You met with a Sovereign?" Rika asked.

"Azulongmon." I supplied.

Everybody in the room payed close attention. Henry was next his father, who was sitting with the other Monster Makers- sans Gorou, whose image was still being projected on the wall. Takato sat next to Henry, with Guilmon next to him. Rika was next to Takato, Renamon slightly behind her. Calumon was currently sitting in a chair, which was spinning around in a circle.

Off to the side was Yamaki, who looked like he had swallowed about thirty particularly sour lemons. All at once.

"I mentioned the Sovereigns to you six before, but for the sake of everybody who doesn't know-"

"The Sovereigns are four extremely powerful and old Mega Level Digimon." Gorou helpfully stated. "They took it upon themselves to guard the Digital World, and they are opposed to the D-Reaper."

"That's... good, right?" Daisy asked.

"Not... exactly. The four Sovereigns, Azulongmon, Baihumon, Ebonwumon, and Zhuqiaomon, are opposed to the D-Reaper, yes, but only for the sake of the safety of the Digital World and its inhabitants."

"Zhuqiaomon was the one sending the Deva, right?" Henry asked.

"Indeed. The Deva are a group of Ultimate Level Digimon. Vikaralamon, the giant pig Digimon that popped up in the park, was one of them." I said, seeing the looks of confusion on the others faces.

"So, what did... Azulongmon want?" Rika asked.

"He wished to talk about the D-Reaper. We didn't get too far before Zhuqiaomon decided to intervene." I stated. "And, here's the important part, so pay attention."

I looked at Gorou, the expression on his face telling me that he probably already knew what I was about to say.

"The Sovereigns are not a united group. It was Zhuqiaomon, and Zhuqiaomon alone, that was sending the Deva. He is the most temperamental of the Sovereigns, and the rest do not share his beliefs and motivations. Azulongmon, for example, is willing to support co-existence and an alliance against the D-Reaper. Zhuqiaomon is not."

"I gather something recently changed?" Gorou asked.

"Indeed. Zhuqiaomon does not want an alliance because he believes that Humans are weak, and thus unable to help. However, if he can be convinced otherwise, then he will be much more willing to allow us to help against the D-Reaper."

"He wants a test of strength? Strength won't help against the D-Reaper." Gorou noted.

"Indeed, but that is what Zhuqiaomon wishes." I turned to the children. "And that's where you six come in. You recently acquired the power to change his mind- you especially, Takato."

"You want us to go and fight him?" Takato asked.

I shook my head. "No. I want to prove him wrong."