I hope people are reading and enjoying this! Seriously, I really hope so, because I can't find out, because 's stat counters have been broken for two months.

Chapter 11 - The Raging Flames

—

Iris woke early. She usually did during thunderstorms - something about them energized her. That could be a problem when they occurred overnight, either waking her up or giving her chaotic dreams, but most other times she welcomed it. Especially these days - she could always use a good pick-me-up to stave off the dread of being a hybrid warrior facing a seemingly infinite enemy.

The rain initially was a bit of a frustration - she wanted out of the house, as promised, and this was just going to make it soggy getting to someone else's place. But her focus quickly drifted to Shockavimon, who was sitting at the edge of the bed, staring out the window. "Shockavimon?"

"Ah! Iris, you're up." Shockavimon tried to smile at her, but it was impossible to miss the strain in her expression.

"Is everything okay?"

"…I mean, no, not really, but I'm fine…I just, uh…was having trouble sleeping."

Iris was about to ask why, when an image flashed across her mind, unbidden. A figment of a dream she'd had…except it wasn't really her dream. "Shockavimon…did you have a bad dream last night?"

"…What? What do you mean?" It was a bit too hesitant.

"I…I remembered dreaming something…it felt like it was from your point of view. There was a creepy-acting bird, and he was hitting you, and saying things…I can't remember what they were, but I remember feeling ill hearing them."

Shockavimon didn't respond immediately. When she did, her voice was very quiet. "You weren't supposed to know about that..."

Iris wasn't sure if an apology was in order; it wasn't like she'd tried to make it happen, it just did. "Shockavimon…you've been doing everything you can to help me feel better over everything that's been going on. Please…let me return the favor. You can tell me about it, get it off your chest…maybe it'll help you feel better."

Shockavimon looked away, closing her eyes and tilting her head skyward as she let out a deep sigh. "I guess it's worth a try…I generally don't like talking about this, though, so I apologize in advance if I'm not…at my best. I wish I could just forget about it, but it seems like every time I get close, another bad dream pops up…"

"Can you…tell me what happened?"

"All right. But I warn you, it's not the most pleasant tale…"

~~~8 years ago~~~

The city of Hagrande. My home for years, the only one I'd ever known, maybe the only one I ever would, or so I thought back then. It wasn't the nicest place, there was a good bit of roughness to it, but I could hold my own and I wasn't worried about it. It really seemed like things were going my way, especially since I'd finally met a guy that got my heart fluttering. I always struggled a little bit to find those relationships, I just never seemed to be quite on the same wavelength with others, but with Hawkmon, I thought I had it. And I was pretty eager - I mean, life's better shared with another, right?

It all seemed fine at first. Hawkmon went in pretty hard, and I guess I liked the attention more because I liked him. But…I don't know, along the way, something changed. I don't think it was that he changed so much as he stopped putting up as much of his front. It started with him just generally getting meaner to me. At first I just brushed it off, but the more he said, the harder it started cutting. I began to feel like I was no good, that I wasn't doing right by him, and some days it seemed like nothing was good enough.

Then came the next phases…he started limited when I could go out and what I could do. And if I didn't obey him, he'd give it to me worse. Harsher words, and then it escalated to hitting. I felt miserable, but it was because I didn't know why he was upset or what I was really doing wrong…I feel almost ill at how naive I was, not seeing what was going on, but when you're in that moment, still being messed with by your own feelings, it's not as clear as it ought to be.

Soon he started hitting me more just because he felt like it, with no reason at all. Just to put me 'in my place,' as he once put it. And it was harder to avoid it because he wasn't letting me do much of anything that I usually did. I couldn't see my friends, I couldn't do my usual activities, and heaven forbid I even so much as look at anyone else, because then he thought I was cheating on him…or that's what he said, anyway, I think it was just another convenient excuse to hit me.

I hate now that at the time, I still thought it could get better. But it was only getting worse. And then…

"Ow! Hawkmon, you're hurting me!"

"Shut UP, you yappy bitch!" It was a hard blow he laid on me, right on the side of my head. It knocked me to the ground, where I lay sobbing and shaking. And what does he do in this moment of vulnerability? Kicks me hard in the side, driving the breath out of me and making me yell in pain. "Got, what a stupid birdbrain. You're lucky I'm here to save you or you'd've killed yourself long ago."

"Hawkmon…wh…why…" I could barely speak, and this was the only thing running through my head. I just couldn't understand how it had all gone so wrong.

I don't really know why, that day, he actually said it…but I think it was because he thought he had broken me, that he'd already won, and so he was just…gloating or something. But he stepped up to me, leaning down over me like a warrior over a dying foe, with this just evil smirk on his face. "You really want to know why, you dumb broad? I'll tell you why. It's because you deserve it, for having the audacity to ever think you were better than me…which as a female, you could never be."

I couldn't speak at the time, thanks to being in the middle of trying not to sob like mad, but when I heard that, it really rattled me. The digital world isn't some bigotry-free bastion, not by a long shot, but certain kinds are a lot rarer than others, and sexism is one of the really uncommon ones. That might be why I had never really realized what he was like until he finally come out with it.

"You and all the other females out there, all the ones who rejected me when they should have been worshiping me…thinking you're anything when you're nothing, depriving males of their right to you. All of you deserve to be beaten and locked up until you treat us the way we deserve to be treated. You worthless, inferior creatures acting like you should be equal to us…your defiance disgusts and revolts me. But I can forgive you, once you become like a proper female should be - serving me, worshiping me, and never, ever defying, rejecting, or questioning me. And you'll learn that your pain is the price you deserve to pay for being a weak, shameful female, and a male's right to put you back in your place. Now go get me some grub, bitch."

I did, at that moment. But the illusion had been shattered. Suddenly I was aware of just how thoroughly I had been used and abused, by someone who was never going to respect me and never going to love me. And it hurt the most because I had loved him…or, I suppose, I loved the illusion he had put up. And what he thought about me…well, he'd gotten to me pretty hard there, I did feel pretty low and worthless, and a part of me was leaning towards me having deserved what I got. But the other part of me…well, he thought he had killed it, but he hadn't. And now that I knew there was no saving this, ever, I had to do the next best thing.

I endured it for another couple days, making sure I avoided riling him too badly so that he wouldn't hit me as much or as hard, so that I would be in good shape. And then…I ran. I escaped. But only just…it was supposed to be a quick out in the middle of the night, flying off into the darkness and leaving no trace. But somehow…maybe it was just luck, or maybe he suspected something. But he found out, and he chased me. I could feel my heart racing as I flew from him…I was naturally faster than him, but he was fueled by anger and wasn't recovering from beatings, so he was keeping up, and threatening me with all sorts of horrible fates once he caught me. But I found it within me to defend myself, and turned and let out a Shock Feather that hit him hard. He thumped hard onto a rooftop, cursing me out and telling me I would regret ever raising a hand to him.

Honestly, there's nothing I regret less.

~~~Present Day~~~

"Some of those…feel too familiar," noted Iris with a bit of a pallor. "I remember some of those incidents…but I was too young to really understand what was going on."

"I'm glad you were, that's something that no child should need to understand," sighed Shockavimon. "Though I'm sure some of them are too painfully familiar with it…"

"Have you ever run into him again?"

"No, and I hope never to again. He probably stayed in Hagrande…the only thing I regret was that I couldn't warn others about him. But I hope my old friends did…though I don't know, maybe they all left too. I wouldn't blame them, the city was kind of going to hell."

"What happened after that?"

"Well, I pretty much spent most of the next year moving from place to place, mainly being alone, never getting too close to anyone. Hawkmon had affected me pretty bad…my self-esteem had been in the dumps for years, and I couldn't help but be paranoid about everyone. Particularly bird digimon…I know it probably isn't fair to them, but I still feel leery around them, even this much later. But trust in general is just something I struggle with as a result, and I never wanted to get too close to anyone…not until Sal, anyway."

"Was this when you joined the, uh, Knights of Liberty, was it?"

"That's them, but no, this was about three years before. I met him when he was doing work for the Kaiser. He invited me to join him, and…well, I wasn't confident at the time, but he got me involved in one of his operations and we ended up facing down a nasty dude together, and we came out on top. It was something of a confidence booster that he saw potential in me that I'd sort of been denying for a long time…and he's got this way about him that's just, it's hard not to be infected by his spirit. He helped bring back a lot of my self-worth and never asked anything for it." Shockavimon shook her head, smiling a bit. "And to think, he STILL thinks he's not 'leadership material.' Sure, bud, the Kaiser had you running his intel and special forces divisions as a lark."

"It sounds like he helped a lot…" Iris said, contemplatively.

"He did. So it was easy to say yes when he approached me about taking on Emperius in the Knights of Liberty. It's still not easy, I still struggle with some of the effects of that…like not being ready to bond on that level with anyone else, and still needing a lot to trust people. I'm hoping I'll figure out a way to get over those eventually, but it could still be a long time coming."

Iris said nothing, but the way Shockavimon spoke about Salmandmon, she wasn't entirely sure there wasn't a hint of something there. But having been burned once, maybe she was reluctant to try to move forward with it…or maybe there were other conflicts there, she couldn't have said.

"…Anyway! I didn't mean to bring down the mood so much this morning…guess the rain just needed a bit of help." Shockavimon suddenly changed the subject, and Iris didn't fight it, sensing she probably wanted to get away from that. "So what are we going to do now?"

"What else? I'm going to slap on my raincoat and we're going to Reyn's."

"…Uh…in this rain?"

"The bowels of hell could be opening up as we speak and it wouldn't stop me from getting out of this damn house."

Shockavimon gave Iris a tired look. "Some days, I really wonder if you need that much help keeping your determination up. You'd better call ahead and tell Reyn to have a towel ready…"

—

"It never fails. The entire world can be hanging in the balance, and the weather will STILL not give a damn." Salmandmon scowled out the window as he slugged down some water, wiping himself off after a vigorous workout. "I really hope that's not making it harder to see things out there. Data says rain can fuss with signals."

"Not much we can do except wait it out or go out there as is, right?" Reyn's back thumped the ground, chest heaving up and down. "Holy crap, how do people do this?"

"Tell me you at least got past ten sit-ups."

"I wasn't counting, I told you that. I just…did it until I couldn't anymore."

"Well, now you don't know what number you're supposed to beat for next time! C'mon, you've gotta set scores!"

"You say this like I'm gonna make this a regular thing. I'm only doing this because you badgered me into it and Iris is coming over soon so I didn't want to fall back asleep."

"Sure, bud," snickered Salmandmon. "You know now that you've started you're going to keep going, right? That's how it always starts."

Reyn pushed himself upright, shaking his head. "Not a chance. I'm gonna pull YOU into settling down instead. Oof, I don't want to be wearing myself out, either, knowing we're probably gonna have something to do today."

"You're actually thinking of going out there?"

"Rain's supposed to let up this afternoon. We'll have time to scope around a bit."

"Yeah, some scoping…" Salmandmon sighed, folding his arms. "It's gonna be harder than ever now that our faces are plastered all over those sites and such. Everyone's gonna be looking out for us, and if they see us, they're gonna call in the heat at top speed. Why'd they have to go and do that? Things are bad enough as it is and probably gonna be getting worse before long, we don't need even more trouble actually meeting the challenges."

"I guess we're not doing a very good job with getting out ahead of this," sighed Reyn. "Why do you think it's going to get worse soon?"

"Because I knew Emperius. They operate on a pretty simple principle: power is status. The stronger you are, the more decisions you can make for yourself. Up 'til now, most of what we've been facing are grunts who generally just get assigned their tasks…they don't have the power so they get ordered around by the people who do. Kind of like you humans are with money."

"Gee, was it that obvious?" Reyn drawled sarcastically.

"I think I've been picking up stuff from your head," the lizard remarked with a smirk. "So blame yourself for thinking about it."

"The downside to having our minds get joined together, apparently. Pick up knowledge you can really use in exchange for revealing all the dirty secrets about our society."

"You say that like you think ours is so much better. Trust me, we've got more than our share of issues, and it's not like we don't have greedy people too, it's just not quite as big an issue compared to some of the others. Honestly, compared to us humanity is actually relatively peaceful."

Reyn snorted. "That does not make me feel that much better. Just tells me we may want to be better armed even if we do somehow KO Emperius. But back to them for a second. You're thinking that more powerful members of Emperius are going to start coming?"

Salmandmon let out a tense sigh. "I've been thinking about what those demons were saying. They said they were interested in us, for someone…but the point that that made to me is that Emperius definitely knows who we are now. There's probably a number of digimon who've come through that we never encountered who've been scouting us. And there are higher-ranked dudes in Emperius who would love to add 'destroyed one of the organic world's defenders' to their resumé - it'd get them another level of prestige."

Reyn frowned at that. "That sounds…scary. So we need to be careful any time we head out now…"

"Reyn, I swear, if you tell me you HAVEN'T been being careful all this time…"

"Ah, that's, uh, not what I meant. Never mind. If they get stronger, what do we do?"

"…I'm not sure. We might have to get stronger, too."

The way Salmandmon said that didn't sit well with Reyn. "Do I want to ask if you have any ideas how to do that?"

"Probably not, no." Salmandmon stared out the window a moment more, then shook his head rapidly. "I need to get my mind off this or I'm gonna lose my cool. You got any good distractions?"

Reyn wasn't so sure it was a good idea to not take that line of questioning further, but he doubted it would amount to much - if Salmandmon had more thoughts on it, there was no way he wouldn't be talking about them. Perhaps they'd have to discuss it as a group later. "Well, I suppose we could pull out the video games. That is, if you don't mind getting thrashed by me again."

"Thrashed?" Salmandmon grinned fiercely at Reyn. "I seemed to remember absolutely pasting you last time."

"That's only because I was feeling bad for you for kicking your tail before that!"

"Oh, you are asking for a no-holds-barred smackdown! Get out that platform fighter, I'ma show you not to mess with me!"

"Hothead," Reyn snickered as he went to his console. "I'm surprised you even do this sort of thing. To hear Data say it, you're such a gym rat that actual rats think you're overdoing it."

"Hey, that Chuumon should've kept up. Just like you should be! I'm tryin' to set an example here!"

"Hey, it's not like I'm a slug or anything! I just don't get into that sort of exercise! I'm a more laid-back kinda guy."

"Well, now might be a good time to start. Anyway, I never used to game at all, but when I joined the KOL, some of the bunch got together for game nights and they would pull me in just because they wanted more participants. I only did it as bonding time at first, but turns out this sorta thing really ignites my competitive streak, and I found myself getting really into it. Don't like to do it alone, though."

"So you enjoy getting your keister whipped from here to San Diego?"

Salmandmon let out a fierce hiss. "I don't even know what that is, but I'm gonna make you pay for saying it!"

"Is this a testosterone-only challenge, or can anyone join in?" Both looked over at the doorway as Iris stepped in, Shockavimon following behind a few seconds later still drying herself with a towel. "And more importantly, should I be putting the fire department on speed dial?"

"When did you get here?" asked Reyn, raising an eyebrow. "I thought I was safe from the 'surprise drop-in' until at least a third date."

"With an attitude like that, you'll be lucky to get to three. My calling ahead wasn't warning enough?"

"I thought I'd at least hear you coming in. I guess I was a bit too preoccupied with riling up Salmandmon. Here, let's get you controllers…hey! Sal, hands off, that's mine!"

"Technically they're all yours, so it shouldn't matter," cackled the lizard.

"That one's MINE mine, it's my special one! Hand it over!"

"Make me!" Salmandmon didn't expect Reyn to actually come over, and wasn't quick enough to scramble off the bed before being yanked towards Reyn. There was a brief struggle before Reyn pried it out of Salmandmon's hands, leaving the human triumphant as he broke away and the lizard pouting a bit. "No fair. I thought for sure you'd be too lazy to try that."

"Lazy schmazy. No one messes with my controller."

"They get along so well," Shockavimon cracked with barely-held-back laughter.

"Boys," Iris just muttered, shaking her head but grinning as well. "Let's show them a thing or two, Shockavimon. I think they need a lesson on how to dominate without being so crude about it."

"Hah! And you thought you didn't have a warrior's spirit!"

—

In another part of town - or several technically - a conference call was taking place.

"…It honestly looks fine to me." Derek gave a shrug as he relayed the message to Skylar and Isaac. "I'm not really sure why you wanted my input, it seems like you two have it figured out."

"Because we're still not getting anywhere with it," grumbled Isaac. "The lack of response is starting to bug me. Like, is there any way we could punch it up more? Make it a little more attention-grabbing without risking blowing it all up in our faces like uber-nerd's so worried about?"

"Is notability such a necessary element of communication among your society's upper echelons?" asked Blackcanismon. "My personal impressions would dictate information as the superior focus for conveyance, and sensationalization to be spurious."

"Sensantinasalinationization gets people looking, though!" piped up Breezedramon. "And right now they ain't looking!"

"I don't believe that it's a matter of it not being sensational enough," Skylar ventured as he adjusted his glasses. "I don't see how it gets more sensational than creatures from another world contacting you. That said, I don't know WHAT it is. We've tried several different angles - baseline information, entreaties about working together, warnings about the seriousness of the matter, and more. Nothing seems to register."

"I never imagined it would be this hard to alert someone to a threat," sighed Datacarnomon. "It doesn't make sense for them to be ignoring it. Is there something else we can do?"

Isaac bowed his head. "…There's one thing…but…I don't think it's a good idea, not unless it's literally the last resort."

"…Let me guess," said Derek tensely. "You're thinking about a full veil-dropping."

"There is NO way that's a good idea," Skylar jumped in instantly. "Just what little has happened this far has gotten us in hot water we're barely staying out of!"

"I don't THINK it's a good idea, dingus, I just said that! But we may not end up having a choice! Right now we're fighting battles for a side that thinks we're a menace to THEM! And right now the people controlling the narrative are only fueling their distrust! If we could seize control of that, show ourselves to them and get them realizing that we're not their enemies, maybe they'll listen more to our warnings. But I'm not about to suggest that we do that without any planning or preparation, or knowing HOW we're going to do it in the first place. I'm just saying, that has to be on the table."

"He's right, Skylar," agreed Derek. "We need to be willing to use that as a way of getting the world to know what's really going on. Even if not everyone believes us, it would have to have enough impact that it would change how we're perceived, even if only a little bit."

Skylay rubbed his temples, groaning, a sign of concession if they ever saw one. "Mmph…does it have to be ALL of us? I don't think I'd want to be in that spotlight."

"Don't worry, Sky!" exclaimed Breezedramon cheerily. "It can't be worse than fighting those Emperius goons!"

"I would do that ten times over before putting myself on camera willingly."

"I can work out some plan details for if it comes to that," said Datacarnomon. "But we need to think of some other things if that's gonna be 'last resort' territory. It implies that there are resorts before then, and right now I don't feel very rested."

"Scintillating turn of phrase," lauded Blackcanismon. "Brainstorming on that quandary is imperative. I fear our temporal latitude is vanishingly scanter by the second."

"After what those demon digimon were saying, I believe it," Derek agreed grimly. "We need help before things escalate…we've already lost too much time."

—

The rain had finally stopped outside. But for the lurking presence watching the house, rain was immaterial. There was only his goal, his mission. Something he had been waiting for for days until finally he managed to slip through. The excitement he felt was like nothing else in his dead heart and empty soul. The power and prestige he sought right in front of him.

If he could have smiled, he would have as he saw the door open. It was time.

—

"Freaking FINALLY!" Salmandmon was jumping up and down as they exited Reyn's house. "We need a weather machine or something! One of you get Skylar working on that, huh?"

"Rain is not a bad thing," Reyn remarked with a chuckle. "Just because it's inconvenient for you doesn't mean we should make it go away."

"Yeah, I happen to LIKE thunderstorms, thank you very much," Iris added.

"Same," agreed Shockavimon. "You stop my thunderstorms and we're gonna be throwing hands. And DON'T say it."

"If Treylor was here, you wouldn't be able to stop him," laughed Minerva, exiting with Cayden and Alisin behind the four; she had her purse on her, ready to go run some errands. "You know, if it wasn't for all the danger, I'd be quite happy that you were getting our kids out of the house more. They really can use more exercise."

"That's what I'VE been saying!" exclaimed Salmandmon, before sticking his tongue out at Reyn. "See, Reyn? She agrees with me!"

Reyn rolled his eyes. "Darn it, Mom, you're not making it easier for me to stop him pushing me into all this workout nonsense!"

Minerva just shook her head at that. "What's wrong with working out? It's a good way to stay healthy! Exercise is important to a healthy lifestyle!"

"You haven't seen Sal's lifestyle," countered Shockavimon with a giggle.

"I've seen enough to know that as much as he eats, he'd BETTER be working out a lot!"

"Hah! I like her more and more every day!" Salmandmon declared brightly.

At least one of us has a good relationship with both our parents, thought Iris, unable to help but smile. Can't help but envy him a bit…what was that? A shiver ran through her, and she jerked her head over just in time to see something big leap out of hiding. "GET DOWN!"

"Nail Bone!" The creature pointed it's gnarled staff in the direction of the group, a powerful and quick blast of something firing down at them. Reyn and Salmandmon had been warned just fast enough to hurl themselves at Reyn's mother and siblings, just getting them out of the way of the blast radius, a patch of grass shredding and withering from the energy of the attack. The creature landed not far away from where the attack struck, pointing its staff at them again. "Hah! I won't miss a second time!"

"Skullsatamon…" Salmandmon's voice was tinged with terror - this was a powerful enemy, one he wasn't sure they were ready to stand up against. "Leave them alone!"

"Hah! Stop me, lizard! Nail-" The attempt at another deadly attack was interrupted by a tackle from Boltfalkemon, driving Skullsatamon away a bit and knocking him off-balance, though he seemed far from wounded. "Oh, it's ON, bird bitch, there was only supposed to be one of you here!"

Reyn's stomach turned as he heard that. Crap, crap, crap…this wasn't just happenstance, he was HUNTING. They've got enough information to target us…

Reyn! Salmandmon's thoughts barged in. We need to fuse! Now!

But Mom…Cayden and Alisin…

Boltfalkemon can't handle Skullsatamon alone! He's too powerful! We don't have a choice!

Reyn could already tell Salmandmon was right - Boltfalkemon was holding her own well but Skullsatamon wasn't reacting much to the attacks. He wasn't sure they would do that much better, but numbers were the only hope they had if the foe outclassed them. "Salmandmon! Let's go!"

"On it!" The two leapt forward, and in midair melded together into Burnreptimon. The startled cries behind him were not setting him much at ease, but Burnreptimon couldn't think about that at the moment - they all needed to survive to have any worries about the aftermath. He boosted himself up with his Pyre Rush and charged forward, taking over just as Boltfalkemon took a smack from Skullsatamon's staff to the head and needed to retreat. Skullsatamon turned to meet him, but Burnreptimon was just a hair faster, delivering a sizzling uppercut to Skullsatamon's jaw and sending him staggering.

"Ragh! Impudent lizard! Skull Hammer!" A powerful swing from that staff forced Burnreptimon back. He tried to dash in again, but had to quickly veer off as Skullsatamon aimed the jewel at him again. "Nail Bone!" He felt the wave of energy just graze past him as he dove, the intensity of just that brush telling him he very much did NOT want a direct shot from it.

"Pyre Rush!" He countered with a blazing salvo of his own, trying to keep it from causing too much damage anywhere else. Skullsatamon mostly just endured the flames, his staff only slightly blocking the attack but his resilience more than enough to blunt the impact. It was definitely the worst case scenario - they were as outmatched as Salmandmon and Shockavimon against Frigimon, except with no clear hope of anything more coming to save them.

"Hah! Was that really all you could do to me? And here I thought you were supposed to be a CHALLENGE!" laughed Skullsatamon evilly. "Pathetic! This world will easily fall to us if this is the best you can do!"

"Static Cracker!" Skullsatamon's focus had gotten too narrow, though, giving Boltfalkemon a chance to shake off her blow and deliver a swinging kick to the back to Skullsatamon's head, throwing the demon for a loop again. Burnreptimon followed up by leaping in and throwing several punches, pummeling Skullsatamon with all the strength he could muster before being thrown back by a Skull Hammer attack that once again just barely missed him. The physical blows were doing a little bit more, but not enough to put the creature down, which was what they really needed to do.

"Pests! You're nothing next to me! Skull Hammer!" Both hybrids had to scramble away as that deadly staff swing, the hook end nearly clipping some of Boltfalkemon's feathers. "I know how to take care of you! Hah, and take a few trophies at the same time!" He pointed his staff at Minerva and Cayden and Alisin, who were huddled against the house, paralyzed with fear.

"No!" Burnreptimon's sudden rush of panic drove him to act, surging forward to desperately get Skullsatamon away…but Skullsatamon suddenly diverted the jewel, and he barely had time to curse himself for getting outplayed before he heard the Nail Bone attack go off, hitting him square. Pain exploded through his body as he was flung back, hitting the ground hard and bouncing twice before smacking into the side of the brick house, rapping his head on it before falling to the ground in a heap.

"REYN!" Minerva's horrified cry rang out.

"Hahaha! Predictable idiot! It's too easy to get you pathetic creatures right where I want you!" Skullsatamon's roaring laughter was cut off by Boltfalkemon striking him again, an electrically-charged fist zapping his head once again. "Damn you! Stop cutting me off!" He swung his staff again at her, but she only got as far away as she absolutely had to, intent on making sure he couldn't take aim at the humans again.

It took everything Burnreptimon had to drag himself to his hands and knees. Blood was trickling down his head from where he'd hit it against the brick, making his vision blur a bit. Every bit of his body was in constant pain, he felt incredibly worn down, and there was an unpleasant buzz through him from the demon's disruptive attack. He couldn't see or hear much of anything, except his own unsteady heartbeat thudding in his ears and Skullsatamon's arrogant voice grating on him. Dammit…that…asshole…going after us like this…just to hurt us so we can't stop them…I can't…I can't let him…I won't let him…agh…c'mon…

The slow fight to rise back to his feet was finally successful, but didn't exactly leave much confidence in his fighting shape. Trying to blink away the blurriness, he saw Boltfalkemon finally take a direct blow to the side from Skullsatamon's Skull Hammer, tossing her to the ground in pain. An ugly heat was building inside him as he hissed out at the demon. "Get away from her!"

"Pah! You're still alive? You vermin are annoyingly persistent…" Skullsatamon didn't sound particularly threatened, though, mockingly laughing at Burnreptimon, who was barely staying upright. "But you still think you can stop me? You won't even be able to stop gravity from pulling you back down onto your knees like you ought to be! You can't stop the Purification! You can't stop any of us, we who will rule all worlds uncontested forevermore! All you'll be is the first ones in this world to die to the mighty power of Emperius! And I'll wear the shattered bones of these worthless humans as I lead our forces to glory!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The sudden screeching yell even made Skullsatamon jump as Burnreptimon erupted, that ugly heat boiling and building until it burst out in a fury. "I've had enough of you arrogant assholes coming after us spewing your twisted fantasies! You FREAKS talking about taking trophies like these aren't innocent people just trying to live their lives, but game for you to hunt! You're the ones who should be suffering and dying, and I'm gonna char you until there's nothing left to mourn!"

A furious blast of flames surrounded Burnreptimon, the heat forcing Skullsatamon back with its sheer intensity. The form of Burnreptimon was enveloped, and began to grow slightly, getting taller and broader as it got hotter, the flames turning white from the thermal intensity. As soon as they broke in a flourish, a renewed and augmented reptilian creature was in his place - nearly a foot taller, more muscular, with metal bracers on his forearms and lower legs and black studded leather bands strapped over his chest and around his thighs, upper arms (just under the seal marks now on his shoulders), tail, and over his knuckles, and eyes glowing a hateful red.

"No…impossible! What…" Skullsatamon had lost most of his bluster, quaking at the raw fury radiating off of the lizard. "I…I won't let you defeat me! Your tricks aren't going to be enough!"

"Shut up." The slightly deeper voice of the lizard was dripping with caustic fury and malice. "Nothing you say or do will get you mercy from me. Your life ends here!"

"Never! Nail Bone!" Desperately Skullsatamon aimed for the new creature, but he rapidly dove to the side to avoid the attack and then rushed with greater speed than before, landing a punishing blow to the demon's chest. A Skull Hammer attack was launched, but to the skeleton's horror, the reptile grabbed the staff mid-attack, gripping it hard enough to crack it. "No! It…no!"

"Inferno Claw!" The reptile shoved the staff away and then, with claws wreathed in flame, slashed upwards at Skullsatamon's chest, leaving charred lines across him. He did the same with his other hand, making an large X in the center of the demon, causing him to howl in pain and stagger backwards. His fist then reared back and shot forward, slamming hard into the chest and causing fragments of bone to fly off as the damaged area fell apart.

No longer was Skullsatamon cocky or arrogant, breathing hard as noxious fluid dripped from him, leaning on his damaged staff to stay upright. "What…what even…are you…things? How…how can you…"

"What am I? I'm hell incarnate," hissed the lizard. "I'm the last thing you'll ever see in your miserable life, and good riddance." He raised his fist, channeling deadly heat energy into it, the white glow generating furious waves around it. "But with your last breath, you can call me Blazereptimon! Solar Wave!" He thrust his hand forward, unleashing a furious fiery attack that looked like Burnreptimon's Pyre Rush upped a few orders of magnitude. The infernal blast enveloped Skullsatamon, and his agonized howl was rapidly cut off as he was burned to nothing - not even the data that composed him escaped the wrath of the reptile, obliterating him as totally as possible.

Silence reigned over the scene in the aftermath. Licks of flame burned some strands of grass, the heat having wilted it in a line leaving the yard. Blazereptimon was breathing hard, but it was finally slowing down, and the glow was leaving his eyes, letting them retake their normal amber distinction. His hand dropped to his side as he saw no trace of Skullsatamon anywhere…only the memory of him in his head, fueling that heat in the pit of his stomach. There were things he didn't understand still, but all that mattered at the moment was one thing: the threat to him, his family, and his friends was gone.

He turned to Boltfalkemon, who was sitting up looking at him in awe. He held out a hand. "Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah…" The bird took the offered hand and was pulled upright; she was still rubbing her side, but seemed to be otherwise well. "You…you evolved."

"Yeah. I guess it IS possible. And it's gonna be necessary, too." Blazereptimon looked over at the still cowering humans against the wall. "About as necessary as blowing the lid to them, it looks like."

"Oof…yeah. Guess it had to happen sometime." Boltfalkemon shook her head. "What…was that just now?"

"…I'm not sure." Blazereptimon took one last glance at the void where Skullsatamon had been. "But I don't really care. He's gone, that's all that matters."

"Right…" Boltfalkemon wasn't so sure she was at ease with that answer, but she didn't sense trying to pursue it would be a good idea. And at the moment, there were other things that needed to be done, much more important than second-guessing her friend that had probably just saved them all.

—

Sitting at the table, facing down Treylor and Minerva, revealing the last of their secrets to them…Burnreptimon honestly almost would rather have faced Skullsatamon again. That was simple, and not nearly so nerve-wracking now that he knew he had another level of power to call on. At least he wasn't alone, Boltfalkemon had very graciously stayed back to support him.

"Good lord…when you said you had something big to tell us, I never would have expected…" Treylor was a little less numb over it, having not been there in the moment - he'd raced home from the hospital at the call, which had been from Minerva originally but Burnreptimon had taken the phone when she hadn't been able to come out with anything. She was finally settled down, but still trembling from everything; Burnreptimon couldn't blame her, she'd seen way too much way too quickly, to say nothing of having been right in the line of fire at more than one point. "And this is what you've been going off to do all this time?"

"I know it's a lot to process. Heck, to be honest, I'm still kind of trying to process it myself. But when we found out that we could do this kind of thing…we couldn't just sit back and do nothing with it. Not with everything that was at stake."

"I just…never thought it would be anything like this…" Minerva shook her head haltingly. "I knew there was something more to it, but not…seeing Reyn disappear like that…and then seeing you get…almost…"

"We get it, trust me, we get it totally," Boltfalkemon assured her. "None of us likes to think about that. It's just…you know…if it doesn't happen here, it happens when Emperius comes calling for all of us. Believe me, I was pretty much the hardest one to bring around to that, even now it's still pretty intimidating."

"It's only because I can do this that I can protect you," added Burnreptimon. "That I can protect all of us. If there was another way, I'd do it, but there isn't. And…I know it's probably going to give you as much stress as it possibly can, but that means I can't stop. Even knowing what we're up against, knowing the risks and dangers…there's only one thing I can do, and that's try to fight them the only way I can."

"…I guess there's not much I can say to that, is there?" Treylor sighed heavily. "You've made it…uncomfortably clear what's at stake. Coming home to something like this…it could easily have been coming home to be told that nearly my whole family had died at the hands of some sadistic creature from another world. Given the choice, I don't even have to think about it…not that I can say I particularly like either one, but…"

"I don't blame you at all. But this is it…you know absolutely everything that we do now, for better or worse. No more secrets, nothing left to hide. I suspect that it's cold comfort, but…"

A weak smile formed on Treylor's face. "Something tells me there's nothing cold about any comfort you can offer, or anything else you do."

A sound somewhere between exasperation and amusement left Burtreptimon's mouth. "Dad jokes to the end, huh?"

"Gotta cope somehow. Would you mind…uh…"

"Right, I suppose you want to see…us again." Burnreptimon and Boltfalkemon exchanged a nod, and both of them separated apart. Almost the instant Reyn was Reyn again, he was caught up in a tearful embrace from Minerva. "Ack! Mom!"

"S-sorry…" Minerva lightened up, caressing Reyn's face. "I just…I'm so glad to…see you're okay. Now…now I know that it's…it's not taking you away, all the way."

"No, it's not…I'm still in there, and I'll always be back." Reyn hugged her tight, trying to fight tears himself. A lot had happened, it was starting to catch up with him, too. "I don't suppose there's much point in saying 'don't worry about me,' is there?"

"Oh, honey…it's my motherly duty to worry about you in the best of times. You're fighting a war out there…that's hardly the best of times."

"In fact I think we may be worrying about more than just you." Treylor had come around to look at Iris and Shockavimon, both of whom were still giving slight rubs to their sides. "Are you two all right?"

"We're fine, but thanks for asking," Iris assured him. "Just…not the nicest or neatest battle, but it's just a touch of soreness now."

"I'm gonna be remembering that one for a bit, though," sighed Shockavimon. "Things are definitely getting nastier out there…I don't think any of us were looking forward to that."

Treylor bowed his head. "…I know there's probably not much that we can do, but…we can try to help with injuries, if they're…things that we can deal with. I'm going to guess there's a lot that we can't do that much about, but if there is anything…if it's getting tougher out there, we're going to need you in the best shape possible."

"That means a lot to us, Mr. Kessilik," replied Shockavimon with a smile. "We're distressingly short on allies over here…every one counts. We'll make sure to keep that in mind."

"Absolutely," agreed Minerva, taking a deep breath and collecting herself a bit, her arm still around Reyn. "I don't know that I understand a lot of the, um, 'why' part of it, but…you're doing your best to help us, and helping to keep our children…as safe as they can be when up against something like this. The least we can do is try to do our best for you…thank you."

Salmandmon was sniffling a little bit, wiping away his own tear. "We'll do our best, Mrs. Kessilik. I'll make sure Reyn comes back to you just fine, no matter what. They'll have to tear through hell to get to him." At least they had a little more hell to offer now…but now he was starting to consider even more seriously the challenges they faced. There was a possibility that they were going to need more help than they could get easily…or maybe anywhere in this world…

—

After everything that had happened, even Salmandmon needed a break. The two of them were back in Reyn's room, Iris and Shockavimon having left to avoid more issues with her father - not that they really minded at the moment, being alone together felt like something they needed after all that.

"Okay…so…now that we've managed to get through all of the messes of the afternoon…" Reyn looked towards Salmandmon. "I'd kinda like to know what just happened."

"That, my friend, was evolution. Or at least as much like evolution as we're capable of in that form."

Reyn blinked. "Okay…so I know you've talked about evolution before. At least the general basic idea. And I know I've imagined it before. But…holy hell, just talking about it DOES NOT prepare you for experiencing it at all. That was wild."

Salmandmon nodded. "Evolution is an enormous rush. It sort of loses its luster when you can do it freely, you get kind of used to it…but man, I am NEVER taking it for granted again. I've been missing that like you wouldn't believe. It was…different, though, that what I'm familiar with."

"Different?"

"Well, it's gonna be different, we're not exactly a digimon, we're, uh, something else. But it's like this…typically when a digimon evolves, they change pretty dramatically. Even if they stay the same type of creature, their shapes can differ a lot…like, when I was Vulcanlizardmon, I was a huge beast that walked on all fours and had two volcano-like things on my back that I could use to make fire rain down on just about everything, and if you got caught up in the initial blast, nice knowin' ya." Salmandmon let out a bit of a sigh. "Maaaan…I miss being Vulcanlizardmon. Stupid seal."

"I feel like I sort of remember that, too," said Reyn. "I wouldn't mind seeing you get that back. Maybe there's something we can do about that seal over here, if Datacarnomon and Isaac can do all the stuff they're doing now."

"Maybe. I sure as heck wouldn't be unhappy about that. Er, anyway, yeah, sorry, kinda got off topic…what happened with Burnreptimon becoming Blazereptimon was definitely a sort of evolution. But he didn't actually change that much…he got a little bigger, and a lot stronger, and got some armor, but his shape didn't change too much? At least not that I could see or remember."

"Huh…well, you're right, I didn't notice much either." Reyn thought for a moment. "Maybe that's 'my' part of it?"

"Your part?"

"Well, you digimon are the ones who have the whole digital evolution thing normally. Maybe having me in there just kind of, uh, makes it so that the shape doesn't change as much, but instead it shows up in other ways? I mean, that's the only thing I can think of."

"Mm…well, honestly, it's as good a guess as any. Not like there aren't a whole bundle of unknowns about this sort of stuff as it is." Salmandmon laid back, staring at the ceiling. "There's only one thing I want answered, though…is that it, or is there more?"

"More?" Reyn asked, blankly, then it hit him. "You mean, like, another stage up?"

"Yeah. Because if there is, we're probably gonna need that at some point. And I'm wondering what can really be done to make that happen…I'd rather not have to rely on it coming at the last second like today."

"Yeah, same here…I think we've got things we've gotta look into. It'd be nice if we had, you know, even a little bit of a break to check into it at all…" Reyn shook his head. "I don't know why it's such a problem to get through to someone in DC, you'd think they'd be all over this stuff by now…I hope something comes of it soon, because I don't know how much longer we can keep doing this ourselves."

"Too true…we've bought ourselves maybe a little more time with this evolution…but…" Salmandmon frowned. "This still isn't the worst Emperius has to offer…and if we can't get some time to figure out what else we're capable of, it could still all go horribly, horribly wrong…"

—

It was another late night for Isaac, trying to write more code for Andrexmon. Though in this case, it was more trying to modify stuff he'd already written, in hopes that he could make it properly work. He'd been getting better at it since he started, a few things were actually working entirely properly - his teleporter didn't seem to be shoddy anymore, and he was getting respectable results from his speed booster. But given the trouble they'd had recently with their images being plastered all over, he really wanted that cloaking device and shield to be working…

With a sigh, he took a momentary break to copy some text from his word processor into yet another e-mail out to the FBI and CIA. It was a throwaway account, which he knew had a chance of reducing the attention, but if things didn't go well, he didn't want someone tracing him and putting him and his family at risk. He'd protected himself as much as possible, though that was just good practice in general. His hopes for results using this method were waning, but he wanted to keep trying.

Datacarnomon was on his bed, running some internal tests for test programs they'd been working on for him. Minor things, like his own speed boost, and some rudimentary ground work for a flight module, which was going to take a good bit more time but which he could work on hashing out certain issues before they became an active problem, as well as distracting himself from other active problems that were more internal. Every now and then he'd path over a note that Isaac could take down for them to check later when the hard stuff was being worked on. It was relatively efficient, and relatively quiet, something Isaac preferred - though Datacarnomon preferred more background music, and had a player going in his own head.

Isaac had just started to get back in the groove when a notification pinged him in the corner, for the account he'd just sent from. Curious, he went to the window and checked it out - and immediately, there was a bad feeling. "…Undeliverable?"

"Hm?" Datacarnomon looked up at him. "What's up?"

"I just tried to send a message to the feds and it got bounced." Isaac opened the message again, poring over the addresses. "I…don't THINK I made any mistakes in the addresses…no, they're the same ones that I sent to successfully earlier today."

"Weird. Try again?"

"Yeah." Isaac copied again, into a new message, and fired it off. Both of them sat silently, watching with bated breath… it took less than a minute for the new notification at appear, and the same response. Disconcerted, Isaac sent a test e-mail to another dummy account, which went through with no problem. "…It's not a problem with the account. It's just not letting me send to THEM."

Datacarnomon didn't like the sound of that. "Why would that happen?"

"There's only one reason I can think of." Isaac stared at the bounceback message again. "They blocked me. Which means someone's getting those messages and deciding that the appropriate reaction was to wall me out."

"Which means they don't want to hear what we have to say…"

"…Right."

The mechanical dinosaur gave a wheezing sigh. "…I guess this is one bet I've got to concede a loss on."

"I would've been a lot happier to lose this one," agreed Isaac grimly. "But I wish I knew why this was happening…why are they that uninterested in hearing us out? You'd think they'd at least TRY to follow up…" He shook his head, sighed heavily. "I'd better let the others know this has turned into a total bust. We'll need to figure out some other group to contact…"

—

"Mr. Secretary! I demand to know why this information has been locked down!"

"Very simple. It is a matter of national security and I've ordered it classified."

"Classified from US?! This is out of bounds, Mr. Secretary! This is information that we need to be able to act on! You have no business taking these files out of our hands!"

"I'm the one who's the judge of that. You can tell your boss that if they want it, they can do what everyone else does and file a lawsuit. But the Department of Defense has no intention of releasing these files, no matter how much you complain."

"Unbelievable! When the President hears about this, you'll be lucky to have a job! This is sabotage!"

"The President should be so lucky to have hers. Don't call me again." The sixty-something balding man hung up the phone, then quickly opened it back up to make another call. "General Sykes? It's Jonah Wheeler. Good, good. Listen, I need you to hurry preparations along. Not yet, but our window is going to be narrower than anticipated, there's been difficulties, but I've bought more time. No, I've still got the dummy reports going to her, it's the FBI and CIA, but we should be good for now, I've got monitors trying to quell anything that doesn't fit the narrative. How much do you have? …Is it enough for a deployment to Braun? Excellent. A week? Try to accelerate it if possible, just in case there's another major incident. But I think that should be good." He was quiet for a moment, then a smug smile formed on his face. "Oh, don't worry about that, General. I'll make sure she can't do a thing to you. It'll be quite satisfying to show her and the country why you don't send a woman to do a man's job…"

Not too much to say about this one. Ideas-wise, it's pretty much what it was. I did add a bit more in explicitly about this particular sequence of evolutions towards the end, but the main point of the chapter is what it is, albeit with hopefully better dynamics.

It's also the last chapter clocking in under 10,000 words for a good long while. I warned you this was getting long. To further that point: once next month's chapter goes up, the total word count will be approximately what it was by Chapter 20 in the original version, the end of the first part of the story. And we'll only be halfway to that in the new version. There's a LOT to come still, and I'm working hard to make sure I can get it out there.