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.

43. The Eighth Demon Lord:1 Down, 5 to Go

AN: Hey everyone, sorry that it's been a while. I got sidetracked as I was working on this chapter and figuring out the fight, as well as a deciding on how something would play out for one character in the last fight. I already knew it would be different than the other characters, but the specifics were taking a minute to fully realize. And I think it's a good choice.

Anyways, I hope you guys have had a good couple months, and here are some responses:

To Guest: Yeah, the Knights probably do need to learn some things, but there's also something else to take into account: remember, the shows are part of the story here, and one with an important plot point is directly referenced. The Digital World was rebooted, and while some of the Knights have been, I guess, 'backed up' by their Partners' bonds not all of them have and without their partners around the others have to make the best decision they can. They aren't going to attack the human world, or anything like that, but from a simple 'utility maximization algorithm' standpoint, killing BG or Taj would definitely put a wrench in Lucemon's plans.

To smartalec121: Thanks for pointing out the issue I had with the names. I fixed that. I hope the endgame is as fun as everything so far!

To Luislobo: I'm glad you like Taj and Rika together. When I started this, I already knew that his relationship with her would probably be better than with Takato. He's definitely dry and rude to her, to an extent, but at least he wants to talk with her. She was abandoned by one parent, so she knows that some of what Takato wants just... well, if it is in the cards, it isn't anytime soon.

Episode 43: The Eighth Demon Lord: 1 down, 5 to go

Lucemon could not have planned it better himself. If only because he had planned it himself, and therefore it was the best plan possible. His dead minions were well within expectations, even if Reapmon's fascination with the Hazard's partner was quite unexpected. Still, it changed nothing in the grand scheme – Lucemon was still here with the trapped Behemoth motorcycle his wayward former compatriot rode into battle.

The motorcycle seemed to hear his thoughts and let out a roar of rage, charging full speed towards him. Lucemon stood completely still, letting the cycle charge him at full speed. The force behind the machine could likely flatten most Ultimates slow or dumb enough to stand in its path. He could survive, of course, but it would hurt if he was hit full speed. Still, he didn't move. He let the cycle shift its gears and burn data in its wake. Right up until it hit the boundary Lucemon had coded five inches in front of him. The motorcycle bounced off of a wall of Digital Code, its engine letting out a noise not dissimilar to a cross between a cry of rage and a whine of pain as it rolled through the dirt. "Has that worked the last five times you tried that?" Lucemon asked once the machine rolled back up to its wheels. It simply roared and charged him again. "Truly, you are a glutton like your master. A glutton for punishment."

Lucemon chuckled at his own joke before turning from the motorbike. "I wonder which of my targets will show up here and which ones will be lured to the other site? Lilithmon perhaps? No, she would never turn down taking on that many men at once," Lucemon muttered dryly. "Leviamon and Belphemon are mindless brutes, so I doubt they could figure out that Behemoth is here. I suppose that only leaves Daemon and Barbamon..."

Lucemon rolled his eyes as Behemoth bounced off of his coded wall again. "Please stop, you interrupted my Locomon of thought," he growled. There was a moment of simply angry revving, but that was well within what he was willing to ignore. "...Daemon and Barbamon... Barbamon then. He's wanted to kill Beelzemon for years. Greed and Gluttony ever pushing in on each other's territory."

Lucemon snapped his fingers and flew away to a good distance, covering his tracks a she did. Surely, his pawns would be showing up soon enough, and being out in the open would only provoke conflict be it with his own... compatriots, or the Royal Knights themselves. And so, as soon as he set down, Lucemon began the process of hiding his true nature behind layer upon layers of viruses and firewalls. Scent, form, even his very aura hidden behind the unassuming and weak form of a human being. As he was now, it would b very difficult for any Digimon to notice him, much less for a Demon Lord that would never look for a human being anyways.

It didn't take long for his pawns to appear, drawn like moths to the flame of Beelzemon's weakened and fragile form. "I thought something smelled," a thin, brown clad knight with wings remarked as he touched down with feline grace near the bike, a rapier stabbed cleanly through its spokes. "I had hoped it was the Behemoth, and yet here we have a greedy fool such as you, Barbamon."

Barbamon snarled, the movement crinkling the long beard that reached his knees. His purple robes began to charge with power as he contemplated attacking the Royal Knight mocking him. "A kitten like you Leopardmon must be smelling himself. I have you at quite the disadvantage, or are you curious for a rematch? It's not often curiosity kills the same cat twice."

Hm... Lucemon had doubted these two would show up together, and it sounded like the two of them had lived a life he hadn't seen. This could make things... difficult, he realized. Should the two kill one another before Beelzemon's retinue arrived, he would have to deal with them on his own. Doable, but he did not want to waste energy and the element of surprise when his plan was so close to fruition.

It seemed that luck was on his side, for another figure appeared. One he had not planned for, given how few non-Singularity Megas there were in this Digital World after the Reboot, but welcome nonetheless. "A Royal Knight and a Demon Lord? Were it not for the warriors coming this way now, I would be more than happy to cross blades with you both." VictoryGreymon shouldered a massive sword as he touched down, careful to keep its blade from the wings on his back cooling from their recent usage. "Therefore, I propose we wait until after that battle to fight with one another."

Leopardmon and Barbamon turned to glare at the newcomer. "What -?"

"I would rather fight twice than once," he interjected, ignoring Barbamon's question. "And a battle against two Royal Knights and one of the Three Tamers is too good to pass up. However, it is clear that they won't let me fight one on one with them. So, the three of us ally ourselves to defeat the three of them. Once finished, we can begin our own battle!"

"Is he serious?" Barbamon asked, turning towards Leopardmon with clear confusion on his face. "You're one of those 'honorable warrior' types, so can you translate, Kittenmon?"

Leopardmon ignored the attempt to get a rise out of him and instead turned to the motorcycle revving its engines at them. "Beelzemon... Fine. This guarantees at least one of your number will die regardless of who claims victory," he remarked simply with a glance at Barbamon. "Now, keep the beast locked away while we wait for our opponents. It would not do to have a motorcycle to the back at an inopportune moment. Watching for your betrayal will be more than enough to distract from our fight."

"Betrayal? Surely such a thing will not happen as long as we work together," VictoryGreymon said simply. Demanded, really. "We are allies until the fight ends."

Of course, neither of his new allies really had the sense that his threat was something to worry about. The two had reputations far beyond what a simple VictoryGreymon could have accrued – lives spent beyond time in countless battles. He was not a threat to them, but he could be used as a pawn. And a pawn to hold off the GoldRapidmon while they dealt with Alphamon and Jesmon would be worth dealing with one another for a moment. "Then let us prepare," Leopardmon agreed, gesturing with his head towards the cycle.

Barbamon sighed. "Fine," he agreed. He reached out and began to pull at the Code of the Digital World, penning the Behemoth bike in once again behind an invisible wall. It tried to run off, but ran face first into the fence. It let out a tired revving noise and began to circle the edge with a low whine.

"That's... not the reaction I expected," Barbamon grumbled, a growing suspicion running through his Digicore. "I think -"

"They're here!" VictoryGreymon interrupted. He pulled his sword from his shoulder and inspected the edge for a moment, then readied it in front of him with both hands.

Barbamon turned from his thoughts and realized VictoryGreymon was correct. Alphamon and Jesmon, now human pets, alongside one of the three heroes of the Digital World. Not a unique Digimon, but one that had done great things regardless. His grasp of Digicode was better than even Barbamon's own, and he had been one of the few to fight and defeat the D-Reaper itself. Barbamon and Leopardmon both knew that this meant great danger, and they wouldn't let the fight become even.

Speaking of which, the children had already dropped what they were carrying and raised their Digivices, readying themselves to fight as one with their partners. And that wouldn't do. Leopardmon was there before the move could be made, sword tip angled down at the human girl. Huckmon's partner began shouting, but was grabbed by Barbamon and lifted into the air before he could Digivolve. "Oh, this will be fun," Barbamon remarked, a terrible smile on his face as he unleashed a blast of energy through the human's body, eliciting loud and pained screams

"Do not take this personally, Alphamon," Leopardmon remarked before bringing the blade down at her.

Dorumon crashed into her partner's side, sending them both tumbling out of the way. There was a bright flash and GoldRapidmon crashed into Leopardmon, sending him tumbling away. He shifted his form midair, spinning and landing on all fours, looking like a winged leopard that dug his claws into the ground to stop himself. "Wow, and I thought Gallantmon's mode change was silly looking," GoldRapidmon joked, snickering at the leopard across from him. "Kitty want some milk?"

Leopardmon narrowed his eyes and bolted, appearing in front of GoldRapidmon at a speed that only he could dodge – if he hadn't been flat footed by his own joke. "Aerial Barrage!" The blue spikes on his shoulders crashed into GoldRapidmon, then Leopardmon bounced from behind him and attacked again, then shot up and attacked from above.

"Biomerge, activate!" Alphamon shot forward, reaching out and snatching Leopardmon by the tail before he could begin his final pass. Leopardmon snarled in surprise, channeling energy into his tail for another attack, but was quickly tossed away into Barbamon before the attack could be unleashed. Barbamon, who had been busy torturing the boy, was too distracted to dodge. The boy tumbled from his grasp towards the ground, caught by his partner before a bright flash saw Jesmon land on his back on the ground.

"DRAMON BREAKER!"

VictoryGreymon, now that the fight was even, made his way into the fray. His blade slashed towards Alphamon from the front. "Divine Sword Grade: Alpha!" A gleaming green blade of energy appeared, coming up to block the attack. "Who the heck are you!?"

"Your opponent!" he replied simply as the energy of their attacks exploded between them, forcing both to slide apart. The battles around them began in earnest as well, Leopardmon and GoldRapidmon racing and trading blows, Jesmon trying to recover as he was bombarded with spell-like attacks by Barbamon, and Alphamon stuck in a sword duel with VictoryGreymon.

Henry turned to Impmon, stuck on the sidelines with him. "What's wrong?"

"Behemoth ain't coming here," Impmon said. Indeed, it was simply stuck in place pointed at them and revving. "It's stuck, Einstein."

"..." Henry frowned at the bike, then pulled out May's computer from her backpack. "Then I'll work on that. You get over there and get on the bike. Four vs three is a lot better than three vs three."

"Eh, momentai, I'll get over there in a ba-boom, Einstein!" Impmon gave a lazy salute and began to carefully make his way around the battles. Henry watched him go for a moment, both of them knowing this was very much a high risk move – and a very high reward one as well. If Impmon thought he could do it, then he'd trust the Digimon. Just like the Digimon was trusting him.

"I just wish I had my deck," Henry mumbled with a frown, making a mental note to have one of the kids give him some extras as soon as he could. He turned his attention back to the computer and began typing away, trying to find how the motorcycle was being held and how he could get Impmon through it.

"Dark Inferno!" A pillar of black flames bubbled and erupted from beneath Jesmon, forcing him to dodge out of the way with barely a moment to spare. He shot towards the wizard, blades glinting and bouncing from side to side to avoid more eruptions from below. And every time he got close, another flame would appear in front of him and he would be forced too far away to deal with it again. Jesmon couldn't even split his focus on hi deck, as the flames would likely hit him without his full focus on dodging. Barbamon was just grinning as he stayed in one place, watching Jesmon be forced back at every turn. "You can't dodge forever, Jesmon! Give me Beelzemon and I shall let you decide if we leave Alphamon or yourself alive!"

"I'd rather just kill you, Beardy!" Jesmon returned. He jumped backwards from one eruptions and studied his opponent. What was the pattern? How could he get close enough to fight back? He silently cursed his opponent for being so smart – a Virus type and a long range fighter were both issues with which Jesmon was hard pressed to deal.

"I was hoping you'd say that," Barbamon replied after a moment, a large, cruel smile splitting his face. He blasted a wall of flames towards Jesmon, who had no choice but to dodge backwards and attempt to outrun the attack. He paused very so often, hoping to find an opening, but every time he turnd the flames extended in his vision. Eventually, the flames died and from a sizable distance he heard: "Pandemonium Lost!" Barbamon's staff began to glow with a violent, purple energy before he slammed it into the ground. A dark purple circle began to be etched into the air above him, slowly and intricately drawn and visible with the same shape regardless of from what angle it was viewed.

"That's bad," Huckmon muttered.

"But it gives us time to get close. We'll need to push it to get through this attack!" Davis responded as their minds came back into sync. Jesmon bolted at Barbamon, blades glowing on his arms. "OS Generics!" His body glowed white and his swords a gleaming red, and he shot forward with unbelievable speed.

Barbamon's sigil soon was etched completely above him, the Crest of Greed, and the circle was opened up like a door. Black water exploded out from the portal, swirling with the unmeasurable evil of the Dark Ocean shot through a fire hose. Surely, this would be enough to destroy the damn knight?

Jesmon began to spin in the air as he moved, tail and arm blades held in front of him as he moved like a drill and collided right with the massive flow. The glowing blades crashed into the water, sending it shooting out in every direction from his drilling movement. Barbamon snarled and slammed his staff down harder, trying to redouble his efforts. The portal began to shrink, forcing the pressure of his attack to grow, but it didn't seem to be doing enough to push him back. Eventually, the energy of the portal would give out and his attack would be useless! So, he had to change things up. He channeled his energy into the watery energy above him, changing its code to alter its state, and the water froze as he shut the portal. The pillar of ice slammed full force into Jesmon, who was forced by the sudden change to turn and use his legs to carve the ice into black snow. He landed on his feet a moment later, panting as heavily as Barbamon from the intense use of their most powerful attacks. But they couldn't stop yet, and the battle began again.

Meanwhile, Alphamon and VictoryGreymon were crossing blades in a brutal assault. Alphamon deflected his blade and countered, trying to impale the Digimon on her own. But he easily brought his massive blade around to easily deflect. "So why no attacks?" Alphamon questioned as they struggled against one another's weight.

"I'm having too much fun!" VictoryGreymon replied, his joy flaring in his eyes. "Skill versus skill, blade versus blade!"

"Then how about I show you a real good time!" Alphamon retorted, kicking him in the gut to give herself space. "Divine Sword Grade: Alpha!" She pulled a second blade from the air, then rushed and began swinging with controlled, powerful movements at her opponent's head.

Usually, each sword would have considerably less force behind each swing, and therefore be much less dangerous against armored opponents. But as these were themselves energy attacks created by a Mega Level Digimon, VictoryGreymon knew he now had to be twice as careful to not even get nicked, but he was more than ready for the challenge. He tore his blade in two as he backstepped, slamming the pieces into his gauntlets and catching her twin blades against his own. "I look forward to seeing what you can do!" he exclaimed as he caught her blades and spun them, burying their tips in the ground. He jumped forward, chest slamming into her chest and sending her toppling to the ground. Her feet came up at the same time, landing in his midsection as he came to attack, and he was flipped over her with a kick that sent him soaring into the air.

Alphamon raised her hand towards him, blade held straight out. "Digitalize Soul!" Blasts of green energy shot upwards, soaring towards VictoryGreymon. He had to admit, forcing him off balance was clever – but he could fly. His jet wings blasted and he shot past the volley of attacks, turning on a dime and weaving between the attacks with claws held out ahead to impale her. And he was only a small distance away when: "Digi-Modify! War Greymon's Brave Shield, Activate!" He slammed claws first into the wall, sending a huge ring across the entire battlefield. Alphamon pushed back, getting enough space to reach her feet and hold the shield with her left arm and a sword in her right. VictoryGreymon just grinned, excited for the rest of the battle.

Lucemon smiled as he watched the battle unfold, slowly making his way closer to his target as his target unknowingly did the same. Impmon was carefully making his way around the battlefield, increasingly understanding how his friends must have felt when he had fought with Megidramon and Gallantmon: walking collateral damage. It was almost funny to Lucemon, watching the stubby imp yelp and shriek as feet large enough to flatten him would slam down in his path with little care. Having to focus on the fight itself was already as much as the three humans and their partners could handle, but Lucemon truly would rather Beelzemon not die before he could get what he wanted.

So he sat and watched, slowly preparing himself to unleash his power and capture Beelzemon before Wong could bring down Barbamon's wall – for such a thing was a foregone conclusion, despite Barbamon's overestimation of his own abilities. Perhaps... ah, of course. He dug into the Digital World's fabric, coding through it to give Beelzemon a quicker path. It would generate a subconscious desire in every Digimon other than Impmon to avoid a specific winding path. Beelzemon may have been a gluttonous idiot at full power, but he rarely made stupid mistakes while struggling through his rookie and champion stages. He would follow Lucemon's road map, because it was that or die.

Impmon dove past a blast of flames fired at Jesmon, who carved the attack in two and dashed towards Barbamon. His swords clashed one after another against Barbamon's staff, the wizard backpedaling as he was forced out of his element by the close quarter's fighter. Flames erupted between them and Jesmon was on the defensive again, avoiding energy blasts and flames unleashed by Barbamon.

Impmon let out a sigh of relief before yelping and taking a hard left to avoid an errant golden missile that Leopardmon had deflected with his electrically charged spikes. The cat dashed forward, burying his teeth in GoldRapidmon's shoulder, tackling him to the ground. His tail began to glow violently, the globe at the top generating large, yellow spheres of energy. "Eroberung!"

"Dang it – Golden Triangle!" GoldRapidmon's body glowed bright gold, and the energy blasted Leopardmon off of him, but not before the mines had circled down to GoldRapidmon to explode. The smoking cat crashed into the ground and rolled past Impmon, not noticing the Rookie as he stood and glared at GoldRapmon, whose armor was cracked and stained with burns.

GoldRapidmon chuckled, "I guess we're fighting like cats and dogs."

"WHAT!?"

"Ah, Momentai, Henry, it wasn't that bad -"

Henry didn't hear his partner. He had pushed the computer to the side, with its half completed Digicode program left forgotten for the moment. "This isn't possible..." he whispered as the glowing, crimson image on his Digivice's screen cut through every other thought and worry. "It's the Hazard!"

The fights came to a grinding halt as VictoryGreymon and Leopardmon froze in place, eyes widening in terror at the very idea. "The Hazard!?" Leopardmon asked, memories coming to his mind. "Megidramon -"

"Pandemonium Lost!"

Jesmon dodged instinctively, narrowly avoiding the powerful blast of Dark Ocean energy that had been heading his way. He readied his blades and turned on Barbamon, whose grin had only widened when Jesmon moved. "What – No!" Jesmon turned around and saw the attack blast through Leopardmon, instantly vaporizing the Royal Knight while his guard was down. And it continued... "ALPHAMON!"

Alphamon was mostly ready, raising her sword and shield in front of her to block the attack. But it wasn't enough. The shield wasn't a real Brave Shield, and had already taken considerable damage from her combat with VictoryGreymon. The blast collided and the shield seemed to hold on for a moment, diverting the high pressure upward to dissipate into blackened rain falling over the battlefield. Then, cracks began to spread across the shield, wider and wider until it shattered in her hands. The blast pushed through and hit Alphamon, blasting her backwards as she cried out. Barbamon readied to redouble his assault to kill another of the Knights, when a sword slammed into his side and he was sent flying.

Barbamon turned midair, reaching out for his staff to telekinetically bring it back to his hand, only for the same massive sword to slam the staff into the ground. "We swore to be allies!" VictoryGreymon roared as he lodged the staff into the ground. "You damn fool!"

Lucemon watched with a raised eyebrow. The battle was devolving, and if Barbamon died then Henry's distraction would be worthless. The bike would escape and Beelzemon would become a problem. Thankfully, everyone seemed rather distracted with the heavily injured Alphamon on the verge of separating, or the fight between VictoryGreymon and Barbamon. In Jesmon's case, both the injuries and desire for revenge had blinded him. So, this was his best chance. He pulled out his Node and prepared a Data Stream, then shot towards Impmon, transforming back into his true body as he moved.

The fight froze again nearby. "Lucemon, you must be here to help -"

Lucemon ignored Barbamon's pleas for aid, simply letting his hand grab Impmon's head and slam him face first into the ground. His other hand finished entering the commands into the Node and he looked up. "Unfortunately, Barbamon, I suppose this is goodbye. You did shoot your own friend and the Digidestined girl, after all. You got a little too greedy, didn't you?"

"Impmon!" GoldRapidmon shot towards Lucemon, who just chuckled and held his hostage in front of him. GoldRapidmon's cry of an attack died in his throat and he glanced over his shoulder. "Henry! What do we do?"

But Henry was still too concerned with his Digivice. The Hazard could mean one of two things – and neither of them were good. Tasuke was in danger, and everything else was outside of his tunneled vision. And it remained that way, even as Lucemon let out another chuckle and vanished in the pink Data Stream. "Henry, snap out of it!"

"Keep them safe," Jesmon called to GoldRapidmon, having decided to make sure this could not continue. The blades on his arms glowed dark red. "I'm going to kill him. Digi-Modify – Agumon Expert, activate. Hypersonic, activate." There was a shine that passed over him as he became a Vaccine type. "I'm going to kill him." He vanished in blast of smoke, charging the Demon Lord who had just reclaimed his staff and was attacking VictoryGreymon with black flames. He turned when he heard the sonic boom of the approaching Jesmon, throwing up a wall of flames in a hurry. But Jesmon didn't care about that anymore. He turned midair, swiping with his tail and using the force of the wind to carve a tunnel through the flames. They shut while he was only halfway through, but he ignored the intense pain of the flames in his single minded desire to kill Barbamon.

"Dammit, I have to -" Barbamon began, growing worried at the hate in Jesmon's eyes. But he was cut off from any attempt to escape as VictoryGreymon attacked from the other side.

"You won't get away, Backstabber," VictoryGreymon growled as he turned his sword to hit with its flat. "Dramon Breaker!" The force hit Barbamon like a cannon, sending him soaring into the air.

"Judgement Blade!" Jesmon shouted from below, tensing his legs before leaping straight up, each blade bathed in bloody light.

Barbamon's eyes widened. "You think I'll just let you kill me!?" he screamed, flaring his broken wings to stop himself. He aimed his staff down at Jesmon. "It's my life! Mine, you trumped up stupid human! MINE TO LIVE, AND MINE TO END!" The staff began to glow, the gem at its head cracking. "DARK INFERNO!"

A torrent of flames erupted from the ground, shooting up at Jesmon's back. The gleaming white knight looked down, knowing there was no way to dodge but turning his blades in that direction to at least block some of the attack. Right up until an orange and steel creature slammed into his side and tore him out of the attack's path with the roar of rockets. Barbamon's eyes widened as he saw VictoryGreymon steal a victory from him. "It's not fai -"

The flames enveloped him, immediately destroying his damaged body and ripping him apart to individual bytes. Bytes that coagulated even as the flames continued to vaporize him, forming into something entirely different.

Jesmon hit the ground hard, his rescuer landing on top of him and dragging him through the dirt a good distance before they stopped. Once they finished moving, Jesmon could feel that he could no longer hold on and split apart from exhaustion and damage. Huckmon recovered first, stumbling over to keep an eye on his partner while glancing over at the others. Alphamon and Dorumon had separated, too. Unlike he and Davis however, Dorumon had De-Digivolved all the way back to Dorimon – which meant May was probably hurt and exhausted too. Davis wouldn't like that.

VictoryGreymon groaned and sat up beside them, looking worse for the wear as well. "Thanks for the save," Davis grumbled as he finally recovered and sat up. He looked over at VictoryGreymon. "We aren't going to have to keep fighting you, are we?"

VictoryGryemon considered the question for a moment, then shook his head. "After what happened with Leopardmon, I must admit I'm not much in the mood for another fight," he muttered. He sighed and pushed himself to his feet, looking up at where Barbamon had been to make sure he was dead. A tremor of terror ran through the Digimon and he stepped backwards in fear, something Davis and Huckmon couldn't miss. Their eyes followed his and saw... something forming in the air. They were quickly and unceremoniously grabbed by VictoryGreymon, who rocketed over to Henry, May, and Dorimon to place them down. "Get low! Victory Shield!" He pulled the wings from his back and combined them into a shield, then slammed it down on the ground and crouched behind it. The others, unsure of what was happening did the same. "Brace yourselves..." Everyone did as commanded, with Davis grabbing hold of May's semi-conscious body and Henry keeping a tight grip on Dorimon and a De-Digivolved Terriermon.

For a few moments, nothing happened. And then, all of a sudden, the entire earth shook beneath their feet. A huge blast of sand data and violet flames shot past them. The shield rattled and creaked against the onslaught of energy, and the entire group was terrified that it would be the end of them.

But eventually, even this terror passed. The flames slowly vanished, the sand and wind died down, and the earth became still once more. Everyone, it seemed, had survived unscathed. Still, VictoryGreymon remained still for a few moments before finally standing up and returning his wings to his back. Everyone else stood up slowly, with Davis holding May up on his shoulder. "This... is very bad," VictoryGreymon muttered at the landscape of floating, destroyed data and the wireframe of the ground crater in front of them. In the center of the white and blue, featureless grid stood a large, blackened sword with Barbamon's violet crest glowing above it. The blade was nearly twice as tall as the Digimon himself had been, and therefore towered over the humans and their partners now. And all of them could feel a sense of... unease coming off of the thing. Like it was just wrong.

"What is it?" Henry asked. He looked at the blade. "This thing... it isn't what normally happens to Digimon when they die."

"It shouldn't even happen to Demon Lords," VictoryGreymon explained quietly. "Not unless something terrible... Lucemon! He stole Beelzemon during our fight!"

"Right!" Dorimon exclaimed weakly. "We gotta... urgh... save him!"

"It is worse than you think," VictoryGreymon explained. He looked down at them and pointed at the sword. "This is one of the Seven Seals of Ogudomon, and it only appears when the Demon Lords have been sealed by one of their own number. Lucemon must intend to Load all of the Demon Lords at once and Digivolve to a monster beyond the ability of any Digimon to defeat alone: Ogudomon. If he succeeds, he will be in total control of a monster that once required all thirteen Royal Knights working in tandem simply to defeat at the cost of their lives."

"Wait, wait, wait... he can get worse to fight!?" Dorimon shouted in disbelief. "Why didn't anyone tell me about this!? Dang it, I'm hitting Dummy next time we see him!"

"Tasuke – the Hazard appeared on my Digivice!" Henry exclaimed as the boy was mentioned. "Now that we're out of danger, we need to call and make sure that he's okay." There was no movement. "GO!"

X X X

Magnamon was little more than a gold spark on the horizon when my Digivice began to ring. I pulled it up and glanced at Davis' name on the screen before answering. "Hello -"

"TASUKE!" Henry shouted on the other side. I yelped and yanked the phone from my ear, rubbing it while Henry continued shouting on the other side. "Tasuke, you just shouted, are you okay!? We saw the Hazard, did something -"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I interjected, hoping that would quiet him down.

Rika and Takato, now unfused from their partners, came over. "Everything all right?"

I waved them off. "Henry, go slower and tell me what's wrong. And stop shouting, you're hurting my ears!"

Someone must have stolen the phone from him, because it was silent for a moment until Davis came on, "Sorry about that, Taj. Things have gone... bad."

I frowned. "Give me a sec," I muttered. I put the phone on speaker. "Okay, we can all hear you now. What went wrong?"

"There's a lot. To start with, Lucemon took Impmon."

I looked over immediately at BG, who glanced up from where he was laying beside Momentai. "How?"

"That takes me to the rest of the problems. We got attacked – Royal Knight and a Demon Lord. The Demon Lord killed the Royal Knight – huge mess that saved our lives. May got hurt in everything." I opened my mouth, scared for her, but Davis cut me off. Seems he knew what I was thinking. "Don't worry. Once they gets some rest, she and Dorimon'll be okay. But Taj... what do you know about something called 'Ogudomon?'"

"Crap..." I mumbled, almost immediately. "Uh... is there a reason you're asking?"

Davis was quiet for a moment. He must have been on speaker, because it was Huckmon who said, "Well, we're standing next to a giant sword that VictoryGreymon called a 'Seal of Ogudomon.' He seems worried."

"VictoryGrey –?" I forced that question out of my mind. There were bigger things to worry about, especially if they were telling the truth. "Well, he should be," I offered, growing terrified myself.

"Ogudomon... I think I had that card," Rika said after thinking for a moment. "It didn't work with my deck, but it would be a strong one."

I nodded. "Wouldn't surprise me. Ogudomon's like a... end of the world monster. Every Demon Lord DNA Digivolved at once. I don't know how much of the flavor text is true, but supposedly Digimon with even a little 'malice,' whatever the hell that means, can't even touch it. It's every sin of every Digimon all at once. In one of the old X-Evolution stories - with the X-Antibody, so take it all with a grain of salt - it could straight up dissolve and Load the entire Digital World."

"That sounds familiar..." Guilmon muttered, trading a worried glance with Takato.

"Yeah," Takato agreed, glancing at his Digivice worriedly.

"Jesmon barely managed to kill it after basically DNA Digivolving with every other Royal Knight... with the X-Antibody, again so... grain of salt with that unexplained Deus Ex Machina power up," I grumbled. "Either way, it's... bad news. We can't let more of these Seals show up."

"We should regroup and plan. If he has Impmon, he may come for Tasuke," Renamon said simply. "Or perhaps even Calumon. We should keep them safe as our first priority."

"... What happened?"

"May?" I asked. "Are you okay?"

She groaned. "Look, first, what happened with you?"

"... Royal Knights. Three of them," BG explained. He grinned smugly. "We Biomerged and took care of them. Sent them running!"

"... Gallantmon and Sakuyamon scared them off?" Terriermon asked, stifling laughter.

"No!" I shouted. "Well, not entirely! We really did beat Magnamon! But, yeah, all three kind of left when Takato and Rika threatened them. Well, that and they got a phone call they needed to leave and fight the... Demon Lords..."

Everyone else came to the same realization as me. Davis took a shaky breath and said, "Then we need to stay split up."

"No. We need to get back together," Henry replied, clearly unhappy with the idea. "We need to keep Tasuke safe."

"I can keep myself safe. We can Biomerge now, we just said that, Henry," I grumbled, more than a little insulted.

"Even if they need more practice!" Calumon offered helpfully.

"Not helping," I grumbled.

"It doesn't matter," Davis continued, making it clear there was no argument. "We need to stop the Royal Knights. Given the fact that, what, something like half of them have tried to kill Taj already, he can't come unless he wants to get killed, too."

"I'd like to avoid it, overall," I agreed dryly.

"Me too," BG seconded.

"So, some of us need to find where they're going and stop this fight. Maybe if we explain things we can stop the fight and get the Demon Lords to back off. VictoryGreymon said these Seals have to be activated by one of the Demon Lords, so... who wants to have one guess at which one activated it?" Davis explained. "So, chances are they'll be willing to stab him in the back at the very least. Or hopefully just back off and glare at each other until this problem gets shut off."

"Well then what do we do?" I asked. "Give us a tactical plan, Davis."

"... We'll go with Henry to figure out the Royal Knights. We can train with him and each other on how to fight better when Biomerged. You'll focus on training with Takato and Rika."

I wanted to argue, but... "Sounds smart," I agreed, knowing I needed all the help I could get. "... May, you scanned that Omnimon, right? Magnamon mentioned him by name, so you can maybe track him to get there?"

"Smart. I can track him easy with my Digivice and computer," she agreed. "At least, once me and my Digivice have recovered."

Davis took a deep breath, "Then we'll see each other soon."

"Hopefully with good news," I tacked on before the call ended.

X X X

"Let me at ya!"

Lucemon rolled his eyes and continued working.

"I'll kills ya!"

He sighed and continued working.

"Hey, Ugly -!"

"I am not ugly!" Lucemon snapped, spinning on his heel and forgetting what he was working on. "You worthless little imp, could you be quiet for a moment in your miserable existence!?"

Impmon just smirked from behind the walls of his cage. "Hurt your feel feels? Ha! I win, Bub." He leaned back against another of the cage's wall. "So, howsabout ya tell me why ya didn't just kill me, huh? Ya ain't got anythin' better to do."

"I have plenty better to do," Lucemon hissed. He paused. "However, it has been some time since we spoke, Beelzemon. Since we were..."

"Friends?" Impmon asked.

"... workplace acquaintances," Lucemon finished. He pointed at Impmon. "Have you ever wondered, of all Digimon connected to all Tamers or Digidestined, why are you capable of Digivolving without the need for your partners?"

Impmon scoffed and turned his head. "I ain't stupid, Blondie. I know it has ta do with the Sovereigns givin' it to me."

Lucemon let out an impressed noise. "It seems having human partners has been good for you. I am honestly happy for you, Beelzemon," he said with a clap. "Well then, I will clarify the reasons. Zhuqiaomon, in a moment of what I would consider stupidity, gave you one of his Digi Cores. A Demon Lord handed the security functions and permissions of the highest level in the Digital World. Were you still your old self, that would have been... well, the Royal Knights would have had to kill you. I'm glad they didn't, of course. Luring another Demon Lord here would have been just another annoying step."

"Another? Wait a sec, how many of us are here, Blondie?"

"All seven. Ah, six now. Barbamon deserved to die much sooner," Lucemon replied. "He was rather full of himself, and tht's coming from the Demon Lord of Pride."

Impmon narrowed his eyes. Clearly this guy didn't care about any of his team mates, as loose as that term may be. Impmon was starting to understand why he'd been so ready to backspin all those years ago. "Then why not just Load me and take it?" Impmon growled.

Lucemon nodded. "Would that I could. However, I already activated the Ogudomon Function. Killing you now would only deprive me of these fun conversations. Well, that and an opportunity to force the Hazard to reach its full potential. You're my own little -" Lucemon snickered "- Leomon."

Impmon felt his entire body droop. "No..." Impmon muttered as he understood. "You really want the kid ta go Megidramon? Yer askin' for death! For everythin' to die if ya do that!"

"Which is what the Ogudomon Function is for, my little friend," Lucemon stated. "Our seven Digi Cores working in tandem will be just enough to deal with him. And their Seals are coming soon, Omnimon and his fragmented round table of fools will make sure of that now that they're all lured to the same place. Twenty years of planning and effort have gone quite a long way to making sure that this simply cannot be stopped."

"Then how about I make myself a Seal!? Ya can't get the Core if I'm dead, eh?" Impmon aimed an attack at his own throat, hoping to bluff Lucemon into backing off... even though he knew it wouldn't work.

"I'd rather not Digivolve to Ogudomon now, but it won't end my plans. I'd have to abuse Henry more than before, but not much else would really change. I'd be all powerful, you'll be dead. So, wouldn't it be better to survive for now? I'll remove the Digi Core from your Core and we can move on like old allies, hm? Now, come along, we need to walk to reach Shibumi's Lecture Hall before night falls, Beelzemon. Sooner we finish up, the sooner your friends can make my plan a success."

X X X

I readied my shield and glared at Gallantmon as we stood across from one another, the gears of the clock in the sky ticking along. I slid my right leg back slightly and so did he. And then I tried to practice what I was here to practice. I pulled myself out of the singular mind of ChaosGallantmon, letting BG to take the reins of the body without me. "Digi-Modify! Metal -"

"Lightning Joust!"

Electricity slammed into our body and I let out a cry as my mind became one again, forcing me to backpedal and regain my balance. "You got a little further that time," Gallantmon shouted from across the makeshift arena.

I growled at his overly encouraging tone. We both knew it wasn't any better, so he should just stop lying! I forced my annoyance down and began extricating from ChaosGallantmon again, already picking a new card as I did. "Digi Modify! Imperialdramon -"

"Lightning Joust!"

I tried to force myself to sync back up with BG, and I was able to start dodging. Not good enough though, and after another painful bolt of electricity running through my body, I hit the ground on one knee. "Damn it!" I slammed my fist into the ground and demerged out of anger.

Rika shook her head and walked over. "Giving up already?" Gallantmon began to walk over, armor clinking.

"No, but if Henry -"

Rika held her hand up. "He'd be hitting you much harder than Gallantmon," she cut in. "Vaccines have that effect on Virus types. You'd be stuck in the exact same place you are right now with more bruises."

I glared down at the ground, knowing she was right and hating it. "Could you explain your problem to us again?" Gallantmon asked from above. "You may Biomerge differently, but we have been doing this for thirty years. We might be able to tell you something."

"I can't switch off. No, I mean... I can't separate to switch off. I mean, I can, but it's not fast enough. It takes too long to pull myself out of Sync, then choose a card, then use the card. By the time I reach that point, I'm already getting beaten unless the other guy was monologuing or giving me space," I explained.

"And separated like that, I can't move our body as quickly," BG explained. "I hate feeling so... sluggish."

"Hm..." Rika placed a hand on her chin, then looked over to Renamon. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Perhaps. But how could they Biomerge like that?" the fox wondered.

"Gonna clue me in?" Gallantmon wondered. He returned his lance to data and scratched his head with his hand. "I'm not really sure what you're talking about right now."

"Make that two – er, three – of us," I agreed with a glance at BG's confused face. I looked over at Gallantmon and remembered he was two people. Kinda. "Four of us?"

Rika glared at Gallantmon before letting out a sigh. "How did I fall for you?" she wondered before turning back to me. "Okay, so when we Biomerged as kids, it was a bit different that it is now. Now, it's like we're one. There's no..."

"Distinctions," Renamon finished as Rika searched for the right word. "Tamers and Digimon have been described as 'matching pairs' meant to complete a whole. We have reached that point."

"I see what you're going for," Gallantmon muttered. He looked over. "When we first did this, it was like we had a subconscious connection. Takato and Guilmon could talk to one another, or talk to HYPNOs when they called us, but I was still able to act. I – we... Rika, this is weird when I'm one person."

"We subconsciously trusted each other. We know you two trust each other, but letting go of everything – of any semblance of control – it isn't easy," Rika explained for Takato. "Especially when you haven't had control for your entire life."

"So, what, we trust each other but we don't trust each other?" I asked dryly, rolling my eyes. "I do enjoy that logical paradox as an answer. It's so simple."

Rika let out a low growl. "Don't roll your eyes at me," she warned, annoyed that I was dismissing her unhelpful help.

I know what I wanted to say, "Sorry, Mom," but I knew that level of sarcasm would only cause problems. So I bit my cheek instead. Besides... she was trying. They both were, even if it wasn't enough.

"Well I don't understand what you mean," BG cut in, somehow choosing the best time to cut the tension to ribbons for me, "but I say we just keep practicing until this long, dumb explanation makes sense."

I laughed at his dry delivery and scratched behind his ears. What a partner I had... "Yeah, let's do it," I agreed.

X X X

Datamon watched ChaosGallantmon get shocked for the fortieth time and let out a sigh. Clearly, the three Digidestined were not going to prove equal to Lucemon's plan. None could utilize their abilities to their maximum, and Lucemon was only a few actions away from becoming Ogudomon. The Digital World would die, the human world would follow, and Datamon would find no more new data to compile and analyze. He had no delusions that Lucemon would allow him ntry into the... 'nw' world he built, as that was not part of their deal.

And so, it fell to Datamon to discover an alternate path, one which would give him a chance to, even should Lucemon ultimately be victorious in his goal of apotheosis, see something decidedly interesting. He accessed his systems for a few moments, pulling information before finally finding what he was looking for. "Ah, of course. Omnimon," he muttered as the sphere was pulled from its location and brought to his hands. He pulled at the sphere of the singularity's history, watching as he met his partners, destroyed Datamon's own previous laboratory, defeated countless enemies... and lost, finally, to an enemy. His partnership ending, the Digidestined sacrificed the last moments they would ever have with them in order to bring out the full extent of their power. Potential energy immediately and permanently transformed into power that burnt away the candle of their partnership in an instant.

Datamon watched this final Digivolution a few more times, unsure what idea had been forming in the back of his mind. Then, it dawned on him. This was his opportunity to see something he had not seen before. He would be interested to see how it would measure up to Lucemon's strength in the boundless evil of Ogudomon.

Datamon returned his sphere of data to its transporation tube, sending it right back to its pedestal deeper within his base. The only questioned that remained was if the Tamer and Digimon would be willing to do the same and sacrifice their own partnership for the world. Or, perhaps, could they even do the same?

Datamon was more than excited to see for himself.

X X X

Well, that's certainly ominous. I wonder what, exactly, this Datamon has planned and for whom. Hopefully it is not for Rika, but neither do I wish for it to be our friends. Lucemon must be defeated before anything like what Datamon described can come to pass – to find each other after so long, only to lose one of our number again would be something we do not deserve.

Hopefully this comes to nothing on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.