Digimon Tamers Zero Two

by MasterCaedus

Tasuke, or Taj, was raised by his 'Uncle' Henry Wong, ever since his parents left when he was very young. In that time, Taj has come to hate his parents and anything related to them. Especially Digimon, the fictional creatures his parents had loved when they were around. But when he gets a real Digimon, Taj must fight Digi-agents of other countries for a chance to find his parents.

34. A Whole New (DIGI)World

AN: Hey everyone. Sorry it's been a little while. I had finals and a few other things to do recently. I hope everyone's doing okay.

Anyways, responses:

To grabdog: I hope to continue to kill you when necessary. Again, thank you so much! I am so happy this feels like Tamers.

To Old Style: I had a lot of fun with the HYPNOS fight, so I'm glad you liked it. As for Taj's relationship with his parents, it's not going to be negative. He'll voice a lot of how he feels when they meet up. At the end of the day, they are actual heroes and he knows it.

To reddevil47: To the Digital world we go!

Episode 34: A Whole New (DIGI)World!

"This... is trippy," May muttered under his breath.

I really had to agree with her. The moment we'd passed into the portal, we'd entered into a world of binary zeroes and ones streaming in every direction all around us. Fog obscured the world around us, but it was clear there was nothing in any direction. "And it could get worse," I pointed out. "Henry's notes said this place depends entirely on what we think of as down. As long as enough of us don't think there's an up or down, we can get where we're going without any fal – er, walking into any problems."

"I can't believe there's an entire part of the world that depends on how people view it like that!" Dorimon exclaimed. "Like in the real world, what's real is just what's real, right?"

"Ha! No, not at all," I chuckled. "In Quantum Physics, nothing happens the same if it's not observed. For instance, light passing through two slits in a cardboard sheet onto a surface. How do you think it would show up?"

"It would make lines, so what's the big deal?" Sakuttomon wondered from his partner's arms.

"It only makes lines when it's being observed in specific manners. Otherwise it makes ripples. In a lot of ways, this place is obeys the same laws of Physics that the real world does, it's just that the application of those laws is a lot more Quantumly defined," I explained. "Like those Q-Bert things you talk about, May. Yes, no, and maybe."

"Q-bit," May groaned, and I just snickered under my breath. "But... kind of. Quantum computing applying quantum physics. The Digital World is a weird place..."

"And it's only going to get weirder and more dangerous," Davis pointed out. "So far Henry's notes have been useful, but we're on the layer of the Digital World that was frozen by the Firewall. In the last decade, who knows what might have changed dow – ach, I mean in there."

"Taj?"

"Just a sec," I told BG.

Instead, I would stick with the conversation I was already part of. "That could be a problem," May agreed with Davis. "But at the very least, it looks like the rules are the same. We might not run into a Clockmon keeping a Gigadramon imprisoned, but I bet we'll be able to breathe underwater if we need to."

"I definitely prefer that rule to the one the show had. Can you imagine how easy the Digidestined would have had it if Cody didn't need the Egg of Reliability for them to escape that -"

"Taj," May groaned. "You're dorking out a bit."

"... Jerk."

"Taj, I have a question," BG said again. "So answer me, because I'm bored and if I'm bored I'll breathe fire on somebody!"

Sakuttomon snorted. "I'd listen to the Mon."

I grimaced at the thought of being lit on fire before I could even reach the Digital World. "Okay, BG, what is it?"

"So I can't think about which way is down, right?"

"Riiiight,"I said, unsure of where exactly this was going.

"Okay, I'm making sure to not do that. Which is hard and giving me a headache and I just want food, but I have a different question," BG elaborated.

"Then... shoot, I guess?" I muttered.

"What if I think above us is up?"

"Above us is... Oh, crap..." I muttered.

Because, all of a sudden, the fog cleared, the numbers began to stream down from above us, and we were falling like shooting stars. "DAMMIT, BG!" I screamed as the air rushed past us and the Digital World appeared below, an expanse of brown-red sand stretching in every direction as far as we could see even from as high up as we were.

It was... kind of awesome. Falling was terrifying, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't anything compared to an all out fight with HYPNOS. This we could figure out. And besides, it was almost peaceful up there, surveying everything. The satellite shaped rock formations in the distance, the mass migration of small Digimon below. And... "What the hell are those!?" Davis shouted as a glowing, red shard of... something floated in our path.

"CRAAAAP!" we screamed, throwing our arms over our eyes on instinct.

"Dorimon -"

"Sakuttomon -"

"BlackGigimon -"

"Digivolve to...!"

Our Digimon exploded out of their Digivolution eggs, right as we crashed right into the shard. "ACH!" I cried out when BG's not heavy body crushed my ribs. "Get... off... meeee..."

BG looked over his shoulder at me. "Whoops." He pushed off of me and rolled away.

I pushed myself up to see the others Digimon hadn't landed on them. "What? How's that fair!?"

"I'm nimble and Dorumon has wings." Huckmon glanced sidelong at the tiny stubs on Dorumon's back. "Kinda."

"Hey!" Dorumon exclaimed. The wings and her head drooped a moment later. "I wish I was Dorugamon..."

May grunted in vague affirmation of her partner's statement, but she was clearly ignoring it while she reached down to touch the red shard below us. "Is this... the Firewall?" she wondered aloud. She laughed. "Awesome!"

"You want awesome?" I asked, and I pointed straight up. The others' heads turned up and we all stared with wide, shining eyes.

There, surrounded by a massive cloud of data... was home. The Earth, glistening like we were standing on the moon. Though, that might actually be true, kind of. A... dimensional satellite, orbiting our plane of space time. "'One small step for a man...'" I whispered as blue streams of energy, connecting Earth to the Digital World, drifted across the surface of both worlds in jagged, lightning like jerking. Similar, pink beams connected the Digital World to a large fog around our home, moving as unpredictably as the blue ones. "'... One giant leap for Mankind.'"

"Wow. Arrogant much?" May asked mockingly.

I blushed and flinched away, crossing my arms. "Why are you red now?" BG wondered.

"N-nothing! Shut up!" I grumbled quietly.

I took a deep breath and walked up to the edge of the shard to look down instead, getting serious. I stared hard at the movement of various shapes moving on the ground. "Henry's down there somewhere. Waiting for us to save him." I turned around to the others. "So, how do we find him?"

"KayKay, my time to shine!" May exclaimed, plopping down and pulling her laptop out of her backpack with a grin. She opened it and laughed. "Jeez, I'm getting better connection up here than if I had an ethernet plugin right now! This is great! I wonder -"

"May!" Davis exclaimed, stopping her rambling. "Finding Henry?"

"Huh? Yeah, KayKay. Do that, then I can analyze the Firewall shard," she told herself. She leaned over her laptop and began to run through some things. Dorumon leaned over her shoulder and cocked her head to the side.

"Figure anything out?" Huckmon asked Dorumon.

"... I like the purple words the most!"

"... You could just say no," BG remarked dryly.

"So, what do you think these energy pillars are?" Davis asked, popping up next to me as the Digimon began bickering behind May.

"Well, the blue ones connect the Digital World to the Earth," I noted after a moment. "They almost look like they're moving up, too. So I think there's only one thing they could be."

"Bio-Emergence Portals," Davis completed. He shook his head. "Dammit. HYPNOS was right about the danger."

"Yeah. But we have a bigger problem to deal with," I pointed out sullenly, even while we stared up at the Earth. "Gethen and Reapmon have some kind of plan. Those Bio-Emergences won't matter unless we can stop them."

Davis shut his eyes and let out a long sigh. "I know."

We stood quietly looking up at the Earth for a while, hoping that... that everything was okay back there, and that it could be fixed on top of that someday. I turned to the left and gestured. "And what about the pink ones?"

Davis looked over, too. "Well, it depends on what that cloud up there is," he muttered.

"That? It's the – well, to put it into terms you two would understand, it's the Internet. A trillion connections between various computers and phones," May said, glancing over her shoulder at us.

"That felt like an insult..." I grumbled.

BG snorted. "It was an insult."

"Hey, now..." I warned him. I blinked and turned to May when I realized something: "Wait a second, aren't you supposed to be mapping out the Digital World?"

"Huh? Oh, that program's been running for a few minutes now. I'm like – eh... thirty percent done when you add in Henry's map you sent," she told us. She spun, still sitting, and grinned at us. "Back to the fog. It's the Network. So those pink things must be what Henry wrote about – those Digital Streams that randomly transport you in the Digital World. I'm working on editing one of Henry's programs so we can predict where they'll take us. It's... expensive, so let's not count on that one for anything."

"So we're just sitting around waiting for a map?" Huckmon wondered.

May shrugged. "With some places of interest for us to check out. What, you thought I'd just give us a map we don't understand and no leads? I'd already be done if you wanted something useless," she told us. She got a sheepish grin. "And if I wasn't scanning the Firewall shard, too, but I couldn't stop myself! This is Uncle Henry's Magnum Opus we're sitting on here, a physical barrier created from computer code!"

"I get it, you want to learn how to play Digi-God, but can you do it when we aren't busy?" I asked her.

She sighed and looked down at her computer. "I can. In three. Two. Oooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnneeeeeeeeee-e..e...one? One! One half! Um... One?"

"May, come -"

"Done!" she shouted and she pushed the new file away to read later. "Wow, the mapping is going a lot faster without having to process scanning the shard..." She grinned sheepishly up at me.

"... I hate you sometimes," I grumbled.

"I always hate you," BG remarked nearby.

May rolled her eyes. "Sure you do, BlackJyarimon."

"That – I – Shut up!" BG snapped. He turned from her and began to growl at the ground, smoke rising from his nose.

Davis sighed and cut us all off with a wave of his hand. "Are we almost done?" He asked her, growing impatient himself.

She glared at her boyfriend until he grimaced and backed off. Only then did she speak. Tyrant. "We're almost... done... Uh, guys?"

"What is it now?" I wondered. I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh. "Scanning another shard?"

"No, that!" She shouted. She pointed over our shoulders at a bright pink Data Stream making its way towards us. Data shards were caught up in the energy and thrown across the Digital World in the blink of an eye. And in a few moments, it would happen to us, too.

"AAAH!" We all screamed. May scrambled, picking up her computer and trying to open her Digivice at the same time. "Digi-Modify! Digivolution, Activate!"

Me and Davis did the same, though we tossed in wing cards so our partners could carry us to the ground. "Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall!" May whined at her open computer, juggling it on her climb up to Dorugamon's back. Miraculously, it didn't. Our Digimon took to the skies, soaring away from the Firewall shard and taking us down to the ground. The shard above was compressed and warped away to somewhere else to be unzipped. Thankfully, without us.

We touched down on the dirt a little while later where a big, tall rock cast shade over us. I slid off of BlackGrowlmon's back and patted his leg, while Davis got off of BaoHuckmon and helped May get down from Dorugamon's back. "KayKay," May said as she slid down. Davis caught her and their faces ended up close. She let out the girliest giggle I'd ever heard from her and the two blushed at one another.

"Blech!" BG and I shouted.

May and Davis flinched and put May down. "Get a room next time? We're here to save Henry, not make me and the Digimon third wheels," I grumbled.

"I have a map, with a few points of interest," May told us. She walked over, holding her computer on one arm and using the touchpad with her other to check some things. I shot a glare at the side of her head, but leaned in with Davis and our Autobot sized Digimon to look at what she was showing us. "Okay, so, based on the basic scan of this level of the Digital World and the next couple up, there are a few interesting places we could go to. Here -" She pointed at a location three levels up that was larger than the others and deep purple. "Something here is drawing an insane amount of data and energy from the Digital World. Based on the difference from data scans of our Digimon, this isn't a Digimon. Which means it might have some info for us. Over here -" She pointed at another location, where a small, blue dot flashed beside a bright red signature. "A Digivice and a Digimon. A, uh... massively powerful one." Then she pointed at another two Digivice signatures with four Digimon. "And I'm guessing... these are your parents."

I stared at the two blue dots moving together and bit my cheek. "Yeah. Probably," I agreed quietly. "We'll figure out where to go soon, but these are all on other levels it looks like. We need to figure out how to get there, first... And these other places? I'm guessing these are places we should avoid?"

"Some of them. There are a lot of places I'd rather not head towards. Honestly, that Digivice that's all alone is near a Digimon that is... crazy strong and really weird. I'd rather ask your parents about this before we see if this is really that 'Ryo' guy. In fact, there are a ton of really strong Digimon we should stay away from." May pointed at a few other red spots, a few grouped together and others wandering alone. "Given that there are so few of them, I bet these are Mega Digimon. Or worse, something even stronger. You want to meet... Taj, give me a scary Ultra Digimon."

"Don't put me on the spot! Uh... Armageddemon!" I exclaimed after a few moments of stumbling.

"Yeah, you want to meet lizard spider? Because I don't," May grumbled. She moved her finger to a bunch of yellow dots. "And then there are the portals. I'm torn on these, because it's likely that a portal is exactly where Henry showed up. On the other hand, they might tear us out of the Digital World to who knows where! And I don't think we want to get separated on different sides of the Real-Digital divide and be unable to get back together."

"Okay, that's... a fair point," BlackGrowlmon grunted. "But do we truly have to avoid these powerful Digimon?"

"If we can't even reach Mega, we don't have a prayer against monsters like that," Davis said. He grabbed his Digivice and pulled up an image of the twelve Royal Knights. "Ultra Digimon or Megas with Ultra power are some of the strongest Digimon that exist in the fiction." Next was Susanoomon. "This one can just delete the Digital World. All of the Digital World. I don't think that kind of power is something three Ultimates with can deal with."

"Even with the Power of Friendship?" Dorugamon asked hopefully.

I rolled my eyes. "No. Not even with the Power of Friendship."

"So we avoid them," May said again.

"Okay, but that does still leave us with one important question," BaoHuckmon said. We turned to him, confused, and he sighed. "How do we get to those other layers?"

"We... uh..."

I sighed. "We start wandering until we find a Digimon we can ask about it," I interjected. "Right?"

May nodded sheepishly.

"Then let's get wandering," I groaned out. "In an endless desert of Data."

"Don't worry, Taj. With my nose, we'll find a Digimon fast," BG said brightly.

I chuckled. "Thanks, Budd-"

"And I'll make them tell us."

"Th-thanks, Buddy..." I groaned out.

"So follow me!" he exclaimed, sniffing the air for a moment, turning ninety degrees to the right, and bolting at full speed.

"Wh – BG! Wait up!" I cried, hurriedly shouldering my duffel and running behind him. And BaoHuckmon and Dorugamon, carrying my friends, shot past me. "Hey! Guys, what the hell!?"

"Snooze ya lose, Dummy!"

X X X

"Come on, we slowed down eventually!" I glared at the sky, ignoring BG's whining as he tried to make me talk. I shifted my grip on the white hair on his head and we kept moving.

"Are we getting close?" I asked, forcing any emotion from my voice.

BG sighed and sniffed the air again. "Smells like they're heading towards us, now," he told me. He slid to a stop on his heels and the others slid to a stop a step behind.

"How strong are they?" I asked. I slid to the ground and pulled out my Digivice, aiming it in the direction we'd been running and waiting to see how far the scan could reach.

BG frowned and sniffed again, and the other Digimon focused on the Digimon coming our way. "... Three Champions and a Rookie," BaoHuckmon said after a moment. "I've sensed enough Digimon over the years I can at least tell you that much."

And sure enough, the scan finally told us the same thing. Two Veedramon, an Airdramon, and a Gumdramon. "So, Davis, what's the best way to force these guys to talk to us?" I wondered after cycling through the different dramon types coming towards us.

Davis put a hand on his chin. "Let's take a page out of the military playbook. Shock and awe," he said after a second. "Let them surround us, then straight to Ultimate. When they're frozen in fear, we make it clear they can answer our questions or we can make them answer our questions. If any of them keep trying to fight... we defend ourselves."

"I hope they try to fight," BG said from behind a toothy grin.

"Oh, we're going to fight!" One of the Veedramon shouted as he and his buddies sprinted up. Their eyes widened upon seeing us. "Wait a second... are those humans? They exist?!"

The Gumdramon bounced up and down between the Veedramon. "I told you those old stories Guardromon told us were real!"

"One story," Airdramon remarked dryly. "But at the very least now we know they can get us to the Real World and we can get stronger!"

"Are they ignoring us?" BaoHuckmon whispered to Dorugamon.

"I think so," she whispered back.

"I do not like that," BG grunted, inserting himself into their conversation.

"Then let's fix that," I told him. The Digimon looked down at us and I grinned, pulling out a card that turned into the Hazard adorned Red Card. "Ready?"

Ten seconds later, the Digimon who had wanted to attack us were cowering on the ground, wrapped up in Puppetmon strings with a trio of Ultimate Digimon surrounding them with attacks at the ready. "So, now that the – heh, fight seems a little too nice – is over -"

"Hey!" one Veedramon shouted indignantly, but shrank back down when BG slammed a scythe arm into the ground beside him, causing him to float a few inches in the air before hitting the ground again.

"Thanks, BlackWarGrowlmon," I said, saluting my partner. I turned back to the wild Digimon. "Where was I? Riiight. So, now that our friends here have made quick work of your... attack? Sure, attack. You're going to answer all of our questions. Especially since the little guy seems to know stuff."

"Only what Guardromon told me!" Gumdramon piped up. The little guy, even tied up, just sounded excited that someone else believed the stories, too.

"Don't help them out!" the other Veedramon hissed.

"Look, we don't intend to hurt you," Davis said, cutting in. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. "But, if you don't want to help us, then we'll just have to explore... other options." He flipped the card around. "Anubismon's Scales. My partner can just see your memories, and the scales will judge all of them. If you pass and you haven't done anything too bad, you live. But if there's even a chance you might not be good enough, you'll be waking up an egg again. Or if you were even worse... well, the punishment fits the crime."

The Digimon shrank back from Davis' power stare, teeth chattering. "Uh... G-Gumdramon, j-just tell 'em!" the first Veedramon commanded. Davis nodded in approval and put the card away. All four Digimon visibly relaxed.

"W-well," Gumdramon began. "What do you want to know?"

"KayKay... First of all, what stories about humans has this Guardromon told you?" May asked first.

Gumdramon grinned. "Well that's easy. He was always talking about humans, and a couple of the older Digimon said they even met a couple! Guardromon said he's partnered to a human, and that being a partner is super special. Makes you stronger! But what everyone else forgets is that he said it made him happy. And then he said a lot of words I still don't get, but he looked really happy talking about it so I was happy!"

"More like sappy," Airdramon grumbled under his breath.

"So, do you guys think this is the same Guardromon from Katou's story?" I asked the others.

"Makes sense," SaviorHuckmon remarked from above Airdramon. "It sounds a lot like how it feels for us, so I'm sure he's a Partner. And if he is, I don't think many Tamers outside Henry's group were getting back to the Digital World before the Firewall went up."

I nodded and rubbed my chin. "Okay... then next up – do any of you know a way for us to get to other levels of the Digital World fast? And which level this Guardromon is on?" I asked.

All the Digimon paled. "Well... the only one other than the Streams is..." Gumdramon began quietly. He grimaced.

"Spit it out," BG growled, the cannons on his chest whining as he spun them up for a half second to scare them.

"Hey, if they want to get killed by the thing living there, let 'em!" Veedramon demanded again. "We go free, and we never see these guys again!"

BG chuckled. "Now I really want to know."

"BG..." I grumbled. "Tone down the battle lust, will you?"

"Well, Guardromon always told us that there's a place where the Sovereigns used to live before they disappeared," Airdramon began. "But we aren't even sure the Sovereigns ever existed."

"But the Tower does, we've seen it!" Veedramon shouted when BG growled again. "W-we promise!"

"It's... uh..." Gumdramon looked around, biting his cheek. "Uh..."

"Over there!" Airdramon exclaimed, rolling on the ground to point to our right. "Pretty far, but it's the fastest way around the Digital World. But when you get close, you can sense a Digimon way stronger than you guys. It's..."

"It's pretty scary..." Gumdramon finished. He looked at the ground. "But if you wanna go up fast, then you'll go there. The Tower can take you to any level in the Digital World if you tell it to, because it goes through every layer. Primary City is on the top layer."

"Wait... there's a Primary Village?" I asked, surprised.

"Primary City," Veedramon corrected. "It's the safest place in the Digital World. Nobody's allowed to fight or Load data or Digivolve!"

"Hey, they kept us safe when we hatched!" Gumdramon exclaimed indignantly. "But it does get pretty boring there. MarineAngemon wouldn't let us do anything!"

"But Henry's notes say they never found a Primary Village," Davis muttered. "Hm... maybe the Digital World has finished healing from the D-Reaper if new Digimon can be hatched again."

"The D-Reaper?" Airdramon asked. His eyes widened and his bound wings lamely tried to flap in fear. "Wait, are you saying all of Guardromon's stories were real!?"

I sighed and pocketed my hands. "Well, then I guess we know where we're going." I ignored Airdramon and nodded. "The faster we get to that tower, the faster we'll find Henry."

"Only question is where to head first," Davis said. "But we can figure that out on the way."

We all climbed on our Partner's backs, a much more difficult prospect with how much larger mine had become as an Ultimate, and prepared to head off. "Wait, what about us!?" Veedramon shouted at our backs.

"The Strings should disappear in a little while!" May shouted over her shoulder. "More than enough time for you to think about your bad choice to attack random people!"

The Digimon watched us go with wide, stunned expressions. "Coooool... So are we going back to Primary City, then?" Gumdramon asked, barely audible.

"Of course we are!" the two Veedramon snapped.

X X X

"How much longer do you think BaoHuckmon will be scouting?" I asked, leaning up against BlackGuilmon as he napped beside Dorumon. The bridge leading to the tower swayed in a dry breeze for a moment, creaking as it did.

"Depends on what's in there. I can see what he sees, so if he's in trouble we can run fast," Davis remarked. He glanced up from his Digivice and looked over May's shoulder at the map she was studying. "In the meantime, we have an important decision to make."

"Where are we going." May nodded and sighed. "I mean, it's obvious -"

"We head for Taj's parents," Davis said.

"We find this Guardromon for more help," May remarked at the same time.

"We go to that big power drain," I said, too.

We all looked at one another, frowning. "Uh..." May grunted. "I guess it isn't so obvious. So tell me why you guys are wrong."

"May..." Davis muttered, rubbing his forehead.

"Oh, I'm mostly joking. Ish."

"The big power drain. We're in the Digital World, like a giant computer, right? If something is taking up a ton of power, it probably has a ton of information we can look at," I remarked first. "Which means whatever's there might help us find Henry faster."

"There's no guarantee that's the case. It might even be some kind of base that Gethen and Reapmon are using," Davis pointed out. "Our best bet is to consolidate our resources with your parents. They'll know the best way to find Henry, and we'll be a lot safer with two Mega Digimon helping us out."

I grimaced and looked away from them. "It's... "

May rolled her eyes. "You just want to avoid the tricky conversations without Henry's help," May said, hitting the nail on the head with a Zudomon hammer. "But, I do agree that going after your parents isn't the right move yet. Gethen somehow got those goggles from your dad, so that means he's definitely got an eye on your parents. I say we only head to them when we aren't afraid to have him attack us. Which leaves Primary City."

"Guardromon knows a lot of old stories, May. If he's taking care of Primary City, I doubt he's exploring the Digital World to find new things out," I said after a moment. "Odds are, he'll only know a few things from around his layer. We need information that can help us now."

"And not to mention, we don't want to attract Reapmon's attention to a place full of baby Digimon. They can't take care of themselves, and we need to think of that," Davis pointed out dryly.

"And we don't have a map of that layer, so we won't be able to find it all too easy," I pointed out.

Davis sighed after a moment of the three of us staring in confusion at each other and shook his head. "And so we're back to square one. So where the heck do we go?"

"I've got it!" May exclaimed. She moved through her computer a little and pulled open another program. "I almost forgot I had this on my PC. Remember when we had to program a Random Number Generator for class back in October? Well, we can use that!"

"Dibs on one!" I shouted.

"Two!" May exclaimed.

"... I guess that leaves three for me?" Davis asked.

May grinned. "You got it, Babe," she said. She turned the computer around, revealing a GUI she'd set to use a six sided dice with a 'roll' button outlined and an image of a six sided dice with a six on it. "So, splitting this up based on our dibs... One and two – Taj. Three and four – Me. Five and six – Davis. Sound good?"

"All good for me. Want to do the honors?" I asked her.

She grinned. "Thought you'd never ask."

She hit the button, and the image of the six sided dice began to alternate between its six faces for a few moments. "This... is getting a little long," I grumbled after ten seconds of rolling.

"Hey, I set the roll time for a while. You can't notice how much better I am at this than you if you don't let it roll for a while," May shot at me.

I glared at her, ignoring the still rolling dice. And, finally: "Oh, come on!" May shouted.

Davis groaned and rubbed his temples. "A two!?"

"I win!" I shouted, throwing my fists up above me.

BOOM!

"Davis!" BaoHuckmon charged up to us, moving at sonic speed and sliding to a stop beside us. "It saw me!"

There was a loud revving noise that erupted from the other side of the bridge, and we knew that we were in trouble. "Hey, I ain't gonna be happy if youse keep runnin'!"

We Digivolved our partners to Ultimate and readied our cards. "What's coming for us?" Davis shouted over the motorcycle noises. The roaring grew closer and closer and we settled in. "Level and type?"

"Mega. Virus," SaviorHuckmon explained. The three of us glanced at one another and swiped our cards to shift our partners to Vaccine. "It let me get away."

"Oh, good. We're screwed," I grumbled, swiping the Brave Shield card.

"Don't be so pessimistic," May said, not believing it herself while activating Hyperspeed.

"... No, no he has a point," Davis muttered, activating Rene, At, Pol while he did.

The motorcycle noise grew closer and closer and I looked up at my partner. "He can only come at us from one place. Let him have it!"

"I like how you think!" BG shouted. He lumbered over to the bridge entrance and slammed his fists into the poles holding it up. Red energy began to charge up in his chest as he aimed it squarely down the bridge, right at the motorcycle blazing towards us. "ATOMIC... BLASTER!"

The nuclear energy exploded from his chest, sending BG's feet dragging backwards as the recoil translated into his body. The wind turned red hot and blasted around us as the energy drilled through the air. The bridge somehow managed to resist the incredible power my partner was letting loose, simply shaking and rattling out of control in the blast's wake. But that might work – Megas could either be basically Ultimates or... much worse. And if taking the Mega coming our way out wasn't going to happen, knocking the guy coming our way into a bottomless pit was a pretty good alternative.

The blast wave crashed into the Digimon, and the wind blasted back at us, sending dirt and data everywhere. We pulled our glasses and goggles on to keep our eyes safe and watched, horrified, as the blast began to split apart and the Mega on the motorcycle drove through it. The motorcycle jumped as BG's energy gave out, and the back wheel slammed into my partner's face. He slammed into his back and the biker leaped from his bike, which began to drive itself into SaviorHuckmon. He grit his teeth and dodged, then kept running when the bike swiveled again to chase him. The biker landed on BG's chest, a shotgun pulled out and aimed at my partner's head while the other fired at DoruGreymon to keep her from getting space to counter and rescue BG.

"... Oh, no..." I whispered. "This is bad."

Honestly, bad really wasn't enough. A Mega is bad. A strong Mega is really bad.

But a Demon Lord Mega? Beelzemon, the Glutton? The purple bird mask, the thre eyes, the biker clothes, tail, two guns? Yep. Beelzemon, redy to kill us with his Double Impact shotgun attack or Drkness Claw slash up close... Crud. "Bada boom, Losers. Well, well, a buncha Ultimates thinkin' they can take me out with a sneak attack? " He chuckled darkly and the gun aimed at BG's head began to glow. He turned his gaze down and froze. "What the heck? Pineapple head, are ya stealin' my style?"

BG snarled and swiped at Beelzemon, who backflipped away and landed on his Behemoth cycle in a crouch. "I gotta admit, it really works for ya, Pineapplehead. After all, everyone looks better when they're lookin' like me. Still, I think the red looks more like what ya should look like. Wait – if you're here, then..."

Beelzemon looked around, deflecting SaviorHuckmon's blades with one shotgun and barely paying attention as he fired at DoruGreymon more to keep her away. Eventually, his eyes settled on me, Davis, and May. "Ah, there we are. I know those goggles fer sure." And then, in a blur of motion we couldn't track, he was above us. "Takato, ya Gogglehead, where's Rika?" Beelzemon asked. Then, he frowned. "Hey, ya dye yer hair for some reason? Yer lookin' like..."

BG, SaviorHuckmon, and DoruGreymon charged his back. "Eh, just a minute," he muttered, before turning around. "Darkness Claw!" He shouted, claws shooting out and wrapping around one of BG's legs. He spun around, somehow almost effortlessly picking up my partner and swinging him around and around. One time, he hit SaviorHuckmon and sent him flying. Next, DoruGreymon was slammed down on top of him. Finally, he threw BG on top of her, and our partners were groaning. Taken down in ten seconds. "Finally, some peace and quiet. Ya gotta get on top of Guilmon, Gogglehead, or he'll..." He turned around and looked closer at me. "Wait a sec... you ain't Gogglehead..."

I cocked my head to the side, playing through all the things he'd said to BG. It all clicked. "Wait a second... Are you the Beelzemon my parents are friends with?" I wondered, really hoping he was. Getting curb stomped by a Demon Lord was not on my top ten.

"Whoa. Goggles Jr?" Beelzemon asked. He spun his shotguns on his index fingers before holstering both. "Has it really been that long? Last I remember youse was a snot nosed little baby."

May walked up beside me. "He still is."

"May!" I snapped back, turning on her.

Davis cocked his head to the side. "What are the odds we run into the same Beelzemon Henry knew?" he wondered, arms crossed. He looked over. "And that he would be so soft with our partners."

Beelzemon blinked and glanced over his shoulder at our Digimon, still groaning in pain. "Oh, that? Well, honestly I just didn't feel like deletin' anybody that looks like Pineapplehead here of all places. One time is enough, ya got me?"

"You didn't stand a chance against us!" BG snapped, pushing up and letting the others free from beneath his massive form.

"He dismantles us in ten seconds flat, Jerkmon!" DoruGreymon shouted. "And you couldn't even stand up long enough to not be used as a weapon against us, you giant club."

"Maybe don't be such an easy target, you annoying fly!" BG snarled back.

"We're getting off topic..." SaviorHuckmon grumbled, stepping between the two snarling dragons. "Can we just focus on what we're actually here for? Beelzemon, we were told there's a portal of some kind in this tower. We need to use it to head to another level."

The motorcycle, Behemoth, roared and drove up like a loyal horse beside Beelzemon. He leaned against it and kicked his legs out. "Sure, but why are ya here? I mean, Goggles and the Ice Queen were pretty serious about Henry keepin' you safe, and I don't think runnin' around the Digital World really counts."

I clenched my fists, walking past him and patting BG's foot. "You okay?" I asked him.

The giant head turned down to me. "I'm all good, Taj."

I grinned up and chuckled. "Should have known."

"So, what's this about? I ain't a fan of cryptically ignorin' my questions," Beelzemon grumbled, growing impatient. The motorcycle rumbled in agreement.

"... Uncle Henry's been kidnapped," May explained after a minute. "A guy named Gethen and a Reapmon threatened him and our families until we opened the Digital World. We're here to get Henry back and stop whatever Gethen and Reapmon are planning."

"A Reapmon, huh?" Beelzemon wondered. He placed his claw on his cheek and scratched. "That'd explain why ya were so scared a' me. Way I hear it, those guys work for Digimon like me, right? Not my thing, but eh..."

"Do you know where they might be taking Henry?" Davis cut in. He stepped forward, somehow managing to appear authoritative in front of a Demon Lord. "Or if some other Beelzemon is involved?"

"Well, I ain't ever seen another Beelzemon. Or even heard a' one," Beelzemon explained. "But it ain't like I know, or anythin'. And findin' Henry – I ain't too worried. You'll find him faster than a Badaboom. Yer best bet is probably findin' this one Datamon. He helped me and Tasuke's parents a way back. Knows everythin' about everywhere in the Digital World cause he's watchin' it all. Real creeper, ya know?" He pushed off of Behemoth and it disintegrated, vanishing until he called it again. "He's crazy, and kinda hard to find. But with a Pineapplehead's nose, we can find 'im. His nose can smell a cookie from the next planet, right?"

"Next galaxy," I corrected, getting an eye roll from BG for it. "He might get sidetracked if he smells a cinnamon roll, but he'll find this Datamon, wherever he is."

BG glared at me. Then: "... Does this mean you brought a Kin-nae-bon?"

"Never change, Jerkmon," DoruGreymon said after a beat.

"Well, if you got a nose that works, let's set a few more things straight." Beelzemon crossed his arms and glared down at me, the air growing colder. Then, it snapped and he grimaced. "Please don't let Foxface know I beat ya up! When she and yer mom team up..." He shivered. "I ain't scared or nothin', but... I ain't scared!"

"... Uh... Sure?"

X X X

Henry gasped as he was yanked out of the buffer zone by Gethen, the man's – Digimon's – whatever he was – his wings spreading wide and letting him drift slowly to the ground while Reapmon bounced between the massive red shards of Henry's Firewall to reach the ground. Henry's eyes widened, tears rising for a moment. "I'm... really back..."

"Is it everything you remember, Dr. Wong?" Gethen inquired, chuckling. He pointed his gaze at the red shards. "Or have your actions made it a world entirely different than the one you knew?"

Henry swallowed and shut his eyes. "What do you want?"

"I would say that's rather obvious, Dr. Wong," Gethen replied. He flapped his wings as they grew close to the ground, slowing them so they could drop to the ground softly. The air burst around them, sending dust flying in a circle, and they hit the ground. A moment later, he dumped Henry unceremoniously onto the ground. "You watched the show all those years ago, didn't you? And then again with Tasuke." Gethen chuckled and flapped his wings, feeling full of himself. "Even the season they attempted to recreate my most recent... hah 'defeat.'"

"Master!" Reapmon finished his descent, kneeling beside Gethen. "The others should be here momentarily. I have sent our location and they are preparing a Data Stream to meet us."

"Have they placed the net to track the children's location data upon arrival?" Gethen asked him.

Henry pushed himself up to his knees. "You will leave them alone!" he demanded, pushing forward.

Reapmon stepped between them. "Don't," he growled, pulling one arm back to reveal Momentai. He looked uncomfortably down at the dog. "You should take this."

Henry glared at him, but soon took his dog and moved a half step back. "You continue to confuse me, Reapmon," Gethen explained.

He turned around. "But that doesn't matter. For now, it's time to finally shed this annoying mask," Gethen said, incredibly satisfied by the idea. He flexed his wings, then brought them around his body, hiding him from view.

"... What the hell?" Henry whispered.

There were flashes of Light and Darkness from behind the wings, and more wings slowly began to appear alongside them. The body hidden within grew larger, pushing against the wings and outgrowing their height until, finally, he threw his wings back.

He retained his blonde hair and blue eyes in his renewed form, Henry noted, and his face was nearly the same shape though it had become much bigger to be proportional to his new body. He wore a white bodysuit beneath a black overcoat. Five angelic wings on the right side of his back – all white save one -, and five black demon wings on the left. A pair of smaller wings grew from his temples. A Zero Unit and Digital Hazard were emblazoned on his left and right hands, and a purple tattoo on his face. Golden ornaments were on his chest, knees, and ankles. "Finally... I was getting tired of having to hide my full beauty."

Gethen turned towards Henry and grinned wide. "So, Dr. Wong... Are you in awe? You are the only and first human to see my full, true form in over twenty years, after all."

Henry took a step backwards, terror running down his spine. "... You're..."

"Lord Lucemon!"

Henry turned his head, seeing a bright pink data stream coming their way and the voices coming from within. "Grab him," Lucemon ordered.

Reapmon nodded, then bolted towards Henry. Henry tried to back off, useless he knew but trying to escape regardless. Reapmon had him and Momentai in hand after just a second, yanking them behind him and into the Stream. Henry yanked against the demon's grip, struggling as hard and uselessly as possible. A moment later, the first layer of the Digital World, its deserts and buttes, was gone. Replacing it was a stone tower, gazing down from atop a mountain peak above the clouds.

"Ah, a mountaintop castle," Lucemon noted as he approached one end of the tower to gaze downward. "A fine choice."

"I told you he would prefer it to the ocean." Henry turned his gaze to the source of the voice and froze. A pair of Ultimate demon Digimon stood together, bowing their heads to Lucemon. The one that had spoken was a turtle like, bipedal Digimon, with green scales. It wore a martial arts uniform, with blue hair coming from its head. Leaning against it was a large staff, one end a crescent moon and the other a large revolver much like one of Gargomon's. The other looked nearly the same, save for a belt of skulls around his waist, brown fish-like skin, and white hair. His staff was leaning against the wall nearby. "See, Sagomon?"

"Of course, Shaujinmon. The ocean would remind him of that place," the darker one said. He paused a beat. "And I was the one who told you."

"What -? I -"

"Enough," Reapmon growled. The twin Digimon froze and bowed further. He turned and bowed to Lucemon, who was still gazing out over the Digital World. "Master, what do we do next?"

Lucemon didn't turn around as he asked, "How many of the pieces have you collected by now?"

"What is going on?" Henry interrupted.

Reapmon growled and took a step towards Henry, only to stop when Lucemon held a hand up. Henry took a breath, waiting to see what happened. But nothing did; Lucemon was waiting for him to speak. "You dragged me to the Digital World, and you brought my dog... for some reason. I think I deserve to know something. Isn't that in the villain code, or something?"

"Now you're sounding like Matsuki," Lucemon noted. He turned around, crossing his arms over his chest. "Villain code? That's cute. Like this is your television show. No, I don't owe you an explanation, Dr. Wong. And I doubt you will figure anything out from what you learn." He smirked at Henry for a moment, eliciting a whimper from Momentai, then turned his attention back to his servants. "Sagomon – how many of the pieces have you collected?"

Sagomon stood up straight. "We have managed to find three of the main components. The data of the Mephistomon the Tamers destroyed two decades ago was easiest to find, and a scavenger brought us a portion of the X-Virus code last month. Yesterday, we managed to claim water from the Dark Ocean, as well."

"Hm... Were you followed from the Ocean?" Lucemon wondered, blue eyes getting cold – and almost, Henry thought, worried.

"We do not believe so, Lord Lucemon. We closed the portal behind us," Shaujinmon explained, shoving in front of Sagomon. "And surely GranDracmon's presence would be quite noticeable."

"... Perhaps..." Lucemon growled. "Well, I suppose I could always kill you if you were wrong."

Sagomon and Shaujinmon shrank back.

"Then once we remove Akiyama from the board, we will only need to find a Sovereign's Digicore and a Shard of Chaos," Reapmon muttered.

Henry coughed violently. "Ch-Chaos!?" He shouted. Momentai began to growl angrily, though his tiny size didn't do much to add to the intimidation factor. "You want a part of the D-Reaper? Are you absolutely insane!?"

"Do not insult Lord Lucemon, you human!" Sagomon snapped indignantly, reaching out with one incredibly long arm to grab his staff and aim it at Henry.

"Ignore him. He's seen and not heard at best," Lucemon explained. "Shaujinmon, begin processing the data to send a Portal to the Human World to Akiyama and his partner. We can't afford that thing getting in our way at this date."

"And the children -?" Reapmon began.

"Leave them alone!"

Lucemon backhanded Henry to the ground, the collision knocking Momentai loose. "I said seen, not heard," he snapped, moving over slowly and placing one foot on Henry's chest as the human nursed a bright bruise blooming on his face. Lucemon pushed down, flattening Henry, who gasped in pain. Momentai barked angrily at Lucemon, and was quickly grabbed by Reapmon before his master could even respond with force. Lucemon gave him an odd look, then back to Henry. "I would listen to that advice, Dr. Wong."

"Why not just kill me!?" Henry snapped defiantly.

Lucemon glared at Henry, then began to chuckle. The laughter grew and he stepped back, laughing loud and placing one hand over his face. "Oh... Oh, finally. A question that isn't foolish!" He sighed and turned back to gaze out over the clouds. "And you will find out soon, Wong. For now, the Children."

"Approaching Beelzemon. We believe we know where Datamon is hiding, now, and that will likely be their destination," Shaujinmon cut in before his twin could answer the question.

Henry let out a relieved sigh. "You believe they're safe with Beelzemon?" Reapmon inquired, looking up from petting Momentai.

"He'll keep them safe from you..." Henry said resolutely. "He's one of the strongest Digimon out there."

"He's a nuisance, at most," Lucemon chuckled. He grew solemn. "But even a nuisance is too much of an issue. Once we've removed Akiyama, prepare Data Streams to separate them and send us there. Let's see how well these children can do alone."

X X X

Wow, Lucemon must either be really strong or really dumb to go after a piece of the D-Reaper. But what was all that other nonsense about? The Dark Ocean? His season of the show? Sounds like some nonsense Gogglehead would toss out, that maybe the shows were real. Ugh, I can't believe this.

At least Tasuke and his friends managed to find one of our friends. Beelzemon won't let anything happen to them.

Let's see if he can handle Lucemon on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters!