Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Beyond The Other Side ❯ Fourth Configuration, Part 2 of 2 ( Chapter 8 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Author's Notes: If you wish to find the sequel, go to FanFiction.Net and find a guy named Epsilon who has a story named Ascension. I may put the story here but that will be some time. Later!!

Disclaimers: Digimon belongs to Fox, Saban, Toei Animation and whoever else owns it. I also don't own Wonderswan.

Beyond The Other Side - Fourth Configuration (Part 2 of 2)

"You can't go out there!! It's too dangerous with all that's been happening!!" Mrs. Matsuki ignored her husband's pleas as she grabbed her coat and prepared to exit the bakery. "I have to find Takato!! What if he's out there, alone and hurt? I'm going out there to find my baby and you're not going to stop-" She was cut off as they heard a rattling sound.

They looked up as the sound appeared to be coming from the air ducts above them. A small voice was muttering. "I'll just follow my nose...I know I smelt something delicious over here!" The first thought to come to the couples' minds was that they had an alien in the air duct who wanted to eat them. They quickly decided to find some cover. As soon as they hid upstairs, they heard a small clang as something appeared to come through. "So you're hiding, eh? I like to play hide and seek...but when I find you, I'm going to enjoy eating you!!"

Mrs. Matsuki could feel the colour being drained from her face as anxiety started to overwhelm her. She tried to control her breathing so that she won't give away her position. The woman took a tiny peek outside. "Hi!!!" A white creature with large ears popped up in front of her. She gave a loud scream before fainting. Mr. Matsuki felt his heart pounding like a jackhammer. Calumon gave a tiny pout. "Awwww!! No goodies here!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Millenniumon examined the figure hovering above Gallantmon carefully. "Just what the hell are you? You don't appear to have any type of transdimensional power. But your beam was able to totally redirect mine. If a beam was equal in power, then there would only be a slight change. By the way my Temporal Eraser was diverted, your beam would have to have some sort of temporal variance in it. And only certain Digimon can have those types of powers."

Shadowgallantmon rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. If you're thinking that only gods and holy beasts can have transdimensional powers, you are seriously mistaken. How do you account for Grandkuwagamon and his Dimension Scissors? And let's not forget the possibility of tapping into new powers every time you absorb a Digimon's data." Megagargomon quickly placed the pieces of the puzzle together. 'Shadowgallantmon must have tapped into some of Grandkuwagamon's powers when he uploaded his data. But why did it remain dormant for so long?'

The dark knight continued to speak. "I had been aware of this transdimensional power for a few days but I did not know how to harness the power safely. But I met this fellow who introduced me to you. A dragon Digimon who claimed to serve this Sovereign. He was a pretty arrogant guy but he felt more talkative after I defeated him easily. After deleting the old chap, I went hunting for you and here I am."

The synthetic Digimon understood what happened as soon as the dark knight mentioned the dragon. "So you were able to gain these powers by uploading the data of a Deva. In their ultimate forms, they have no idea of what they can unlock but when they are summoned forth to replace one of the four Guardians, their powers are revealed as they take their place as one of the four Holy Beasts."

Shadowgallantmon narrowed his blue eyes. "So...are you supposed to be some sort of evil god or something? You don't look like that at all. I'm interested to see what will happen when I upload your data..." His holy counterpart gave a start. "You're not seriously thinking of trying to-" He never had time to finish as the dark knight had already begun his attack.

Gallantmon quickly landed down to rejoin the others. "If my psychotic dark twin gets himself killed, I'll be biting the dust as well!!" Omnimon looked up to see Shadowgallantmon weaving in and out, firing shots from his lance at Millenniumon's eyes. "I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Silphymon, Shakkoumon...you better stay on guard in case either one of them tries something tricky." Both ultimate Digimon nodded.

"How are we supposed to beat a giant like Millenniumon?!" Megagargomon was thinking about any references to Millenniumon in the Digimon products. "Even with our numbers, we can't take him directly. As I recall, the TV show showed Ken dreaming about a past moment in the digital world. In that clip, we saw Millenniumon falling in defeat and the Dark Spore's implantation in Ken." The other Digidestined kids gave stunned looks. Ken looked uncomfortable with the amount of attention he was receiving.

"No wonder you were freaking out. That guy practically came from your nightmares!! Don't worry, Ken. We got your back." Davis gave a confident grin. The other boy managed a weak smile. Sakuyamon stepped forward. "It's going to be tough but we need you to look back into those memories. Maybe there's a weakness we can exploit. Maybe we can defeat Millenniumon the same way you did."

"I'm sorry but my memory about those events are a bit fuzzy. If Wormmon were here, he could fill in a few spots but he has his hands full battling Imperialdramon." Ken closed his eyes and started to extract the memories of that fateful trip into the digital world. "It was a little after I got a weird e-mail. I reunited with Wormmon...and someone else. I think it was him who beat Millenniumon!!" Megagargomon started to think. "Yeah...I did see someone else there in that dream. He had short brown hair...and that was it."

Ken crossed his arms. "He was some sort of powerful chosen person. I think that some powerful Digimon sent him to defeat Millenniumon. I don't remember which Digimon he had as his partner. And his name was Ryu...uh..." A sour look made its way to Sakuyamon's face. "Ryo Akiyama."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Positron Laser!!" The viral Imperialdramon had been chasing his counterpart higher into the sky. The vaccine Imperialdramon rolled to the right to avoid getting hit. "That was a bit too close for comfort. Maybe the clouds can prove to be an effective hiding place..." He ducked underneath into the cloud. (AN: I'm thinking of a setting similar to the one where Blackwargreymon, Wargreymon and Imperialdramon all unleashed their attacks and knocked each other down to the ground.)

The viral Imperialdramon considered following his target inside. 'But he may have some sort of a plan. He may know how to get around in the cloud. Once I go in, he may gain a tactical advantage...no matter. I'll flush him out.' He raised his right arm and fired short shots into the clouds. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small movement. "Positron Laser!!"

There was a large explosion as the blast collided with the cloud. The viral Imperialdramon lowered his arm. "Mission complete. The target has been terminated." He heard a small click behind him. He slowly took a peek behind and found himself staring down the barrel of the vaccine Imperialdramon's blaster. It was already charged to the maximum. "Hooray for you."

"Aw, son of a bit-" He never got the chance to finish his sentence as the Positron Laser ripped right through him. The vaccine Imperialdramon gave a huge sigh. "Thank goodness that's over. I better get back to the others. Who knows what's happening down there. I better find out what happened to Renamon." He quickly exited the battle area.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Megagargomon gave a start. "Ryo Akiyama!! That's the guy who disappeared about a year and a half ago!! I never would have thought that he went to your world for real!!" Ken had a confused look. "He came from your world? No wonder...he kind of looked a little out of place. He was the one who helped defeat Millenniumon. By the way they fought, they must have some sort of history. When the Dark Spores were flying right at him, I pushed him down and took the Spore for him."

Kari looked over at the fuming shaman Digimon. "So, Rika...how exactly do you know about Ryo anyway?" Sakuyamon clenched her staff. "He beat me in the Digimon card game tournament two years ago. Back then, Wonderswan was one of the sponsors. They said that whoever won would be used as the protagonist in their Digimon video games. They also had some connections because they were able to get Ryo a tiny cameo in the show. But after six months, he disappeared. Wonderswan decided not to sponsor the next tournament, which I won because Ryo wasn't there..."

Davis held up his hand. "Wait a second. Are you saying that if you won that tournament...then you would be the legendary chosen child who is nothing more than the protagonist in a video game...now I'm just confused!" Sakuyamon gave a sigh. "It's simple, you moron. If I won that tournament, then you would be begging the Digimon gods or something to send me to kick Millenniumon's ass."

Yolei rolled her eyes. "If you won that tournament, then you would still remain as the cold fish you were when we first met." The mega Digimon shot an icy glare at the other girl. "Cold fish?!?" Gallantmon had to place his arms on his girlfriend's shoulders to make sure that she doesn't go on a rampage.

"Well, that does pretty much describe...actually no. That doesn't describe her that well." Henry was surprised that Terriermon would say something nice about Rika. "How does it go again...let's see...ah, damn it!! There was a good song I downloaded off the Internet a while ago with someone singing about how someone else was a big, fat bitch!!" (AN: I don't own 'Kyle's Mom Is A Big Fat Bitch' or South Park. Trey Parker and Matt Stone do. That was probably one of the best parts in South Park...other than Kenny constantly dying and Rou Shambo)

Terriermon got a quick look outside to see Millenniumon and Shadowgallantmon in battle with Omnimon trying to make sure things stay in check. "Aw, man!! If we were at least twice as big as this, we can play Rou Shambo with Millenniumon!!" Henry blinked in confusion. "Rou Shambo?"

"Yeah!! I read about it on the Internet! It's where you kick a guy in the nuts really, really hard and assuming that guy survives, he can kick you in the nuts really, really hard! And you keep kicking each other in the nuts until you can't go anymore!!" As Terriermon continued ranting about Rou Shambo, Henry was shaking his head in disbelief. 'I must have done something very terrible in my past life to deserve this...'

Cody raised his hands. "Everyone calm down. We're getting off topic. So how did Ryo defeat Millenniumon in the first place, Ken?" The other boy started concentrating on those memories. "He...he didn't kill him. I think Ryo used some sort of special program that was supposed to split Millenniumon into two separate entities or something."

Henry quickly snapped back to reality after listening to Terriermon's rants. "Well, from the card game, Millenniumon can be formed by combining Kimeramon and Machinedramon. When Ryo used the program, he didn't really expect Millenniumon to have a countermeasure for that situation. All Ryo got was a storm of Dark Spores heading his way. I wonder why the program didn't work..." Gallantmon had a blank look on his face. "Why didn't Ryo kill Millenniumon? Wouldn't it be better if he just died?"

Ken continued to speak. "I asked Ryo the same question during the battle. He said that if he killed Millenniumon, then he would rise again in another more powerful form. I wasn't sure what he was talking about." TK crossed his arms. "Maybe it's similar to what happened with Myotismon. When Angewomon killed him in ultimate form, he digivolved to Venommyotismon. But Millenniumon is already at mega. How can he digivolve again?"

Davis looked up at Millenniumon and saw something that made his jaw drop in surprise. "I don't know what exactly is going to happen but I have a feeling that we're going to find out!! Look!!" They all looked up to see Shadowgallantmon right in Millenniumon's face. It appeared that he was trying to force the synthetic Digimon's mouth open. "You are indeed a powerful being. I believe that I should go down there and see what makes you tick!!!" As soon as he forced the mouth to open, he dived inside.

"Whoa!! Now that's something you don't see everyday!" Megagargomon looked behind him to see Imperialdramon floating in the air. "Hey!! When did you get back? What happened to your viral twin?" The vaccine mega looked at the group with a small look of confusion. "I wasted that copy. Now would somebody fill me in on what's going on?"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"This is getting us nowhere! We've been walking around in circles!! When do we get to fight?!?" Ryo took out his Digivice and turned it into an energy whip. "We have to keep looking for a gateway, Cyberdramon. Try and keep your head together, alright?" He deactivated the whip before continuing on their route.

Hidden in the shadows, a boy watched the two of them bicker with slight interest. "Cyborg Digimon. Specialty attack...Erase Claw. Weight...30 Gigas. Vaccine type. Ultimate level." He silently crept near the shadows to avoid detection. 'Perhaps you may be the way out of this wretched dimension. Then I can finally settle my scores with Daemon, Taichi and Zero...'

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Just what is that psychotic Digimon doing?!? He's going to get himself killed!!!" Omnimon stood there as Millenniumon started showing signs of just how much of a pain Shadowgallantmon was in his stomach. Gallantmon felt a small hiss as it felt like acid was eating on his feet. "Great. Now I'm going to die from the stomach acids of a Digimon the size of four Godzillas...and I'm not even in the digestive system!!"

Slowly, Millenniumon's stomach started to expand, with bits of dark energy crackling around it. Megagargomon's eyes widened in horror. "Aw, man!! He's gonna blow!!" The others started to back away as the effects of Shadowgallantmon's internal assault continued to be displayed on Millenniumon. Then without warning, he burst into data, leaving only the dark knight with his lance still raised high from his Demon Disaster attack.

Before the tamers could realize what happened, several Dark Spores came out of nowhere and flew right at the group. Megagargomon prepared to fire missiles to neutralize the spores when most of them just disappeared without a trace. The others just collided into buildings and dissipated. Sensor data began to appear inside the machine Digimon's head. "According to these readings...the spores are traveling to different dimensions! When Millenniumon...um...exploded, he created several interdimensional pockets which the spores used to get to other worlds..."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Ebonwumon's heads snapped up. "The barriers between dimensions...Millenniumon's been destroyed!! And...oh, this ain't good. His spores are flying to the human and digital worlds in all of our realms. We got some cleaning up to do. Can't let any nasty being get their hands on this." Azulongmon has a worried look on his face. "What if they already have? You are aware that great evil still exists in my world. What if those dark forces already possess the spore?"

The turtle Digimon spoke again. "Then, there's little we can do. You know that we cannot make direct contact with humans who are unaware of the digital world as it would create chaos and confusion. The Digital Revolution must take place before we can establish a dialogue with them. That means only the chosen children can stop his plans before he sets them in motion. Now let's move it!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Shadowgallantmon was waiting for the data to come to him but he found that there was nothing. "Now I'm just plain pissed...I go inside the big guy's stomach and use my most powerful attack for what? Jack squat!!!" He looked over at the other Digimon. "At least I get some compensation. Four megas, two ultimates and my holy counterpart who possesses the essence to unlocking my true power...yes, this should be more than sufficient." Before Omnimon could blink, Shadowgallantmon was dashing to make an attack on his counterpart. The vaccine holy knight immediately chased after the dark knight but found that it was no use. 'How did he gain this much speed?'

"Heads up!!" The group became startled at Omnimon's warning. Gallantmon looked up to see a black and blue blur speeding towards him. He was about to raise his shield when Sakuyamon's staff blocked his dark twin's black lance just inches above his head. She whirled around to swing her staff at the dark knight. He quickly did a partial backflip and landed on his hands before stretching them out to make an aerial retreat.

Silphymon, Shakkoumon and Omnimon regrouped with their friends. "Just what do you think you are doing?!?" yelled Silphymon. Black energy surrounded the dark knight. "Considering the fact that I was unable to upload the data of the Digimon who just took the dirt nap, I have settled for all of you!!"

Gallantmon stared at his dark twin in disbelief. "You want to fight us now? Are you totally serious about taking on five megas and two ultimates?" The dark knight gave a chuckle. "I suppose I should be flattered as to how you're all paying attention to little old me...but what about those guys behind you?"

They all turned around to see several hundred of the creatures that Millenniumon had brought in earlier. Imperialdramon had a shocked look. "No way...I thought these guys would have been destroyed along with Millenniumon!! Something's not adding up here..." Ken could feel it in his bones. "Now that Shadowgallantmon has killed Millenniumon...something bad is just around the corner..."

"You guys take those wacky creatures!! Leave Shadowgallantmon to us..." Shakkoumon was hesitant to leave his comrades with the dark knight. "Are you sure about this?" Megagargomon, Sakuyamon and Gallantmon took defensive stances. "The three of us have a little score to settle with him..."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

'My God...it's so beautiful. If only you could have seen this too, Hiroki.' Oikawa was at his computer just looking over at some of the imagery from the digital world. Before he could continue admiring the scenery, a little black blur whizzed right by his left ear and smashed into a wall. The man looked to see what was there. A small black spore was in the little hole. A ghastly smile came to Oikawa's lips as inspiration struck him.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"I don't like this. Master Daemon should be conserving his energy," muttered Marinedevimon. Ladydevimon gave a yawn. "Oh, stop your ranting. It's making me sick. The master is only going out to get some fresh air as well as check on how well his powers are recovering."

They all heard the sound of footsteps heading towards the entrance. Skullsatamon took a small defensive stance but relaxed as he saw Daemon come into view. At that moment, the skeleton Digimon sensed a change in his master's mood. He seemed to be in a fairly good mood. And that doesn't happen very often. "Master? What happened?" Daemon held up a dark spore in his left hand. "I struck gold..."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"The odds of you winning have slightly increased. Big whoop...you can't possibly win against three mega Digimon all by yourself," stated Megagargomon. Shadowgallantmon gave a small chuckle. "But I can't lose either because in the process of killing me, you'll be killing your friend as well." The vaccine mega clenched his fists. 'Damn it!! I hate it when he's right!!'

Gallantmon narrowed his golden eyes. "I'm already aware of the risks but I would still be willing to go along with this. At least this way, we can be secure in the knowledge that you no longer present a threat." The dark knight rolled his eyes. "Good grief...don't get started on your holy knight mumbo jumbo...now then. Let's see who I should start with first." His eyes rested upon Megagargomon. "I guess it's going to be the jolly green giant..."

Megagargomon gave a small growl. "If you think you're going to beat me, then you're seriously mistaken!!" Before he could finish talking, he saw the dark knight flying towards him at a fast speed. With a thunderous blow, the machine Digimon was sent flying back. "Man...how can he have so much power?" Henry heard Terriermon's voice pop out of nowhere. "It's obvious. The guy has been taking a combination of vitamins and steroids. If we want to stop him, we gotta play Rou Shambo!!" He quickly got up and took aim at Shadowgallantmon. "Gargo Missile!!"

"Let's get going, Sakuyamon!! Henry needs our help!!" Gallantmon was about to take off into the air when he noticed that the shaman Digimon was just standing there, deep in thought. The holy knight immediately grew worried. "Hey...are you okay? What's on your mind anyway?"

"It would have been helpful if we figured out how your connection to each other works. Then we could disconnect the two of you before sending him to the afterlife," muttered Sakuyamon. Gallantmon gave a soft sigh. "Unfortunately, that's not the case. If we don't finish him here, right in this moment...if he somehow got away and started killing innocent people across the world, I could never live with myself. As a holy knight, I must place the lives of others above my own."

"Yeah, I know. You know, this is one of the parts of being a hero that I hate. With all that emotional sap about how there's no other way and the lovers going in for one final moment or something...kind of makes you want to puke, huh?" The shaman Digimon gave a dry laugh. The holy knight detected his girlfriend's attempt at dry humour in this grim situation. "It's weird...just when we find each other, fate decides to throw a monkey wrench and force us apart. I don't know if I can deal with losing another person I cared a lot about. First...my dad..." A part of her wanted to cry all of this pain out.

'So that's why she was so cold. She must have lost her father...and she wasn't sure how to deal with it so she bottled up her emotions...' Gallantmon gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know exactly what happened in the past but bottling up your emotions and becoming a hollow warrior won't solve anything. If you did that, you would be shutting out your heart. And a warrior who fights without a heart is doomed to fight meaningless battles."

Sakuyamon glanced over at the holy knight behind her. "Geez, when did you become so philosophical, goggle head?" Gallantmon gave a laugh. "I guess it came naturally when I became a holy knight and all...Sakuyamon, I want you to promise me that no matter what happens that you will always fight with your heart."

"But I don't understand about this whole fighting with the heart works. Fighting with your emotions...fighting passionately doesn't-" The holy knight placed a gentle finger on her lips to silence her. "When one fights with a heart and soul, that person displays the type of character they are. When I saw you fight earlier, you displayed the character of a heartless soldier but I know that you're better than that. If you fight with your heart, you'll show everyone that you're a beautiful and graceful warrior with a bad attitude. And that'll make me feel deliriously happy knowing that you love me."

The shaman Digimon remained silent for a few moments before giving a reply to his previous inquiry. "Alright...I promise that I'll always fight with my heart." A small sly smile came to her lips as she loosely wrapped her arms around the holy knight's neck. "Does being romantic also come naturally as a holy knight?" Gallantmon was at a loss for words in response to his girlfriend's teasing. "Uh...I...um...ah..."

"Aw, man!! The guy's practically a superfly!! This is madness..." Megagargomon focused his aim before unleashing another attack. "Mega Barrage!!" Shadowgallantmon started flying towards them and weaved in and out of the missiles. (AN: Kind of like when Wing Gundam manoeuvred through those shots in the opening theme) Acting purely on martial arts instincts, the machine Digimon raised an arm to try and block Shadowgallantmon. The next thing he knew, he was sailing in the air after the dark knight had counterattacked. He frantically flailed his arms to gain some control before crashing inches before Gallantmon and Sakuyamon.

An annoyed look made its way to the vaccine mega's face. "Hey, loverbirds...do you mind giving me a hand here?!?" The holy knight knelt down by his friend. "You can sit this one out for now, Henry. We can take it from here." With that said, he was flying off towards battle beside Sakuyamon.

Henry wanted to just get a bit of time to stop the ringing in his head when out of the blue, Terriermon started talking. "Oh, my...did you see the way they were looking at each other, Henry? It was majorly deep, man. That's a lot of love coming from those two. I swear, if they're not going at it like rabbits by the time-" The boy cut his partner off. "Terriermon, has it ever occurred to you that NOBODY CARES?!?!?"

As the two megas flew closer to their target, they each charged up their attacks. Shadowgallantmon simply hovered in the air, waiting for them. "Royal Sabre!!" "Fox Drive!!" The two energy blasts came straight towards the dark knight but he simply folded his arms inward and swung them out, deflecting the attacks. "Time to play..."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

'Damn it!! I should have kept my eyes on them more carefully!! Perhaps I should have sent out my partners to do this. They would have been more suitable...' The boy's gaze rested upon the endless dark waters before him. He had tried to follow the other boy and his Digimon to a portal out of this place but after they went over a ridge, they simply disappeared. 'What is the significance of this place? It has some characteristics of the digital world but yet it is not. It's too dark to be the digital world.'

"See? I told you that guy was following us! There's something about him I don't like...we should take him out." Ryo could feel that inside Cyberdramon somewhere, Monodramon was crowing like there was no tomorrow. The other boy standing near the water had white hair and blue eyes. He wore a white t-shirt and black pants with bandages covering his arms along with a pair of watches, one for each wrist. A small hankerchief was wrapped around his neck, similar to Ryo's.

"If I had wanted to, I could have ordered my Digimon to ambush you." Ryo and Cyberdramon gave a start when they heard the eerie tone of the other boy. Cyberdramon gave a growl. "We've never seen you here before...who are you? How did you get here in the first place?"

"I could ask the same thing but why waste each other's time with meaningless questions? The more pressing matter is how to get out. I've checked various regions of this plane and I can confirm that there are no gateways of escape." Ryo gave a groan, knowing that the plan had just gone out the window. "I guess we better get back to the digital world, Cyberdramon. The Sovereigns aren't going to be very happy about this development."

The other boy's eyes widened. "You mean you can return to your original dimension?!? How is this possible?!?" Ryo took out his Digivice and pressed a button. A beam shot out of it, forming a Digi Gnome. "That little guy is kind of an anchor. He can create a return vortex but it's kind of unstable. Only about two or three beings can go through before it shuts down."

As the vortex started to open bit by bit, the boy could feel freedom, something that he did not have for a long time. And there was no way that other boy is going through with his Digimon. "Ogremon!! Devimon!!" The two champion Digimon appeared out of nowhere, startling Ryo and Cyberdramon. "What?! He has two partners?!?"

The boy concentrated before punching his fists together. The screens on his watches were shining with light. "DNA Digivolve!!!" Ryo gave a start. 'Those weren't watches!! Those are Digivices!!' He prepared to grab a card as Devimon and Ogremon fused to become Skullsatamon. Cyberdramon gave a grin. "Okay, big boy. Show me what you got!"

"Just what do you think you're doing?!?" The other boy gave a dark smile. "I've been stuck here in this hellhole for too long. I want out and your portal is the only escape route available! Skullsatamon, attack!!" Ryo whipped out a card. "Digi Modify!! Power Activate!!" Cyberdramon glowed briefly as the card's effect strengthened him. "Erase Claw!!" Skullsatamon leapt out of the way before Cyberdramon's Erase Claw hit him.

Ryo quickly scanned his opponent's Digimon. "This guy is an ultimate level, virus type. Specialty attack is Nail Bone. Since he's a demon, he may be..." The boy took out his pack which contained the powerful Goliath cards. (AN: I mentioned this before WAY back in chapter 23 that I will refer to King Device as Goliath King, etc.) "Let's hope this works! Digi Modify!! Goliath Bishop Activate!!" Cyberdramon felt a small surge of holy power. "Nail Bone!!" Cyberdramon dodged the attack and delivered a powerful punch. Skullsatamon staggered back, dizzy.

"Rise to your maximum level, Skullsatamon!!" The boy placed his wrists in a position where both Digivices were touching each other. Skullsatamon felt a new power emerging from within. "Skullsatamon digivolved to..." His size shrunk as dark, grey skin replaced the orange and black. One golden eye appeared at the top of his head. In his palms were two more golden eyes. Red wings appeared on the back. The staff he had as Skullsatamon disappeared as well. "...Ghoulmon!!"

Statistics popped out from Ryo's Digivice. "Ghoulmon, mega Digimon, virus type. Specialty attacks are Death Arrow and Explosion Eye!!" (AN: Original Japanese name is Deathmon) Cyberdramon growled as he fired another Erase Claw. Ghoulmon placed his palms outward. "Explosion Eye!!" The eyeballs fired from the palms and cut through the attack. Cyberdramon tried to get out of the way but the eyeballs exploded in front of him.

"Cyberdramon!!" Ryo searched for another card to help his partner. The other boy took this opportunity to make a run for the portal. "Ghoulmon, forget about them!! We have to escape now!!" The mega Digimon formed another pair of eyeballs before following his partner through the vortex. Before Ryo and Cyberdramon knew it, the portal closed as soon as the other boy and his Digimon got through. "Crap..."

The vortex opened in another area of the digital world in Zhuqiaomon's realm. A moment later, a white haired boy and his Digimon tumbled out. He looked around at his new surroundings. Before him, several large clocks were ticking in front of him. "Neo...we've escaped," stated Ghoulmon in a monotone. Neo Saiba gave a dark grin. "Daemon, Taichi, Zero...watch yourselves. I am coming for you..."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Somewhere else in the digital world, the four Digimon Sovereigns had reunited with their status on the Dark Spore situation. "I've been able to confirm that all of the Spores have dissipated in both worlds in my realm," stated Baihumon. Ebonwumon gave a small sigh of relief. "Good. I've got Lord MagnaAngemon and Taichi working on the problem in their respective areas. How about you, Azulongmon?"

The dragon Digimon had a grave look in his eyes. "Most of the spores had disintegrated but at least two of them fell into dark hands. I can feel it. And there are a few spores unaccounted for. Who knows where they could have gone..." Ebonwumon's heads both gave frowns. "I think I know where they might have went."

Zhuqiaomon looked at the vaccine mega. "What are you talking about? There are only four realms in which the unaccounted spores could have landed." The turtle Digimon's expression did not change. "It is not as easy as that, my friend. Our four dimensions comprise one plane of existence only."

"What do you mean one plane of existence?" asked Baihumon. Ebonwumon paused. "I'm not entirely sure how to explain this properly but...for each event, there are several courses of action. Our reality is determined by the decisions taken. However, since there are other possibilities that exist for that event, those possibilities will exist as alternate quantum planes of existence. Like for instance...the Digital Revolution may have already occurred in one plane while a human versus Digimon war may have broken out in another. There may be planes of existence where Digimon far superior to us exist..."

Azulongmon narrowed his eyes. "And you're saying that the Dark Spores can cross the barriers between quantum planes? Why not Millenniumon or us for that matter?" Ebonwumon had a small grim look on one face. "Actually, Millenniumon can cross the barriers between quantum planes but only in one of his more advanced forms. The energy required to open a gateway between quantum planes is tenfold that of the energy needed to cross realms. Our energy levels are nowhere near that...but enough of the spores. We should concentrate on-"

The turtle Digimon stopped speaking as he felt a wind blow on the leaves of his tree. "I do believe that Ryo has opened the return vortex...but someone else is coming through. Someone familiar..." "Does this person pose a threat?" asked the viral phoenix. Ebonwumon shook both of his heads. "At this moment, Zhuqiaomon, he is not a concern. But after the current crisis has been dealt with, we should confront him. There are some unresolved issues that must be faced."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Shakkoumon fired another Justice Beam at the creatures. "This is nuts!! What did Millenniumon do?!? Buy these guys by the thousands?!?" Omnimon deflected an energy attack before countering with his Garuru Cannon. "How many of these are there? I want to try and help our friends against the dark knight."

"They should be fine. There's strength in numbers and Shadowgallantmon's outnumbered three to one," stated Silphymon. "True...but he has proven to be a skillful warrior as well as a cunning adversary. In addition, I believe that he may be more than they can handle because I sensing that a change has occurred. A change which has benefitted him and spells trouble for us..." Imperialdramon stopped talking as soon as he noticed that for some reason, the creatures had stopped their attack.

"Ken!! Snap out of this! You're really starting to freak me out, man!!" Davis shook Ken but it didn't do too much good. He was shivering uncontrollably, murmuring something. The other Digidestined couldn't make out what he was saying. Cody crossed his arms. "I thought that his trauma would subside once Millenniumon was destroyed. I wonder why he is still acting this way."

'Just how is Shadowgallantmon able to attack so fiercely without breaking a sweat?' Megagargomon slowly sat up as he saw the dark knight engaged in battle with Gallantmon and Sakuyamon. He kept furiously attacking with his lance and his shield. (AN: Kind of like Goku fighting two of Dr. Wheeler's henchmen) Gallantmon and Sakuyamon were unable to make any decent counterattack as the dark knight left little opportunity to do so.

Readings started popping up on Henry's sensors. "Wait a minute...everytime he goes in to attack, there's a spike in the space-time continuum! It's like he's placing himself in a state of hypertime!! He's just fighting at normal speed but in our time, it's like he's a speed demon!" Terriermon's voice popped out of nowhere. "Talk about cheating!! Let's get him!!"

"Hold on a second. Maybe we can catch him off guard or something...I just hope this works!" Megagargomon willed himself to fire a few missiles from the cannons around his right wrist but rather than flying straight towards Shadowgallantmon, the missiles plowed their way underneath the ground. "Delayed explosion...impressive," stated Terriermon.

Gallantmon and Sakuyamon had to flip backwards to try and regroup their efforts. Shadowgallantmon started running at them, with his lance prepared to strike. "Ready or not, here I come!!" Just as he was about to reach them, the ground from underneath exploded, forcing him to jump up and land in an escape roll. The dark knight's opponents took advantage of this lapse in concentration. Gallantmon charged towards his dark twin but Shadowgallantmon dodged out of the way and spun to make a counterattack. (AN: Think Wolverine VS Sabretooth, X-Men Evolution opening theme) "Obsidian Lance!!"

Before he could strike, someone came up from behind to make a sneak attack. He raised his shield to block the attack. Sakuyamon quickly dropped to make a foot sweep. The dark knight swore as he tried to make an aerial recovery but Sakuyamon had already sent him flying back with a strong roundhouse kick. "Mega Barrage!!" Missiles were flying towards the dark knight. He quickly concentrated to activate his newfound power as he rolled backwards to make a landing. Although it worked, some of the missiles detonated in front of his face, dealing a considerable amount of damage. Megagargomon was up and well rested. "I'm back and fully charged!!"

Gallantmon was having some difficulty in getting up. "Alright...we got him on the defensive. Now it's time to finish this!" Before the trio could attack, they heard shouts of warning coming from their friends. They looked up to see all of the mysterious creatures that the Digidestined had been fighting gathering up. Slowly, they changed into a red liquid form.

"What in the...?" The red liquid started to shape itself into an oddly shaped diamond. It started to solidify to form a blue crystal with streaks of red. Then a dark mist started to form inside the crystal. It grew larger until it occupied the centre. Other than having two heads with a pair of red eyes each, there was nothing else. He was about three quarters the size of Millenniumon. Then the being spoke in a hauntingly familiar voice. "Hi kiddies!! Did you miss me?!?" A maniacal laugh echoed throughout the air.

Ken's eyes widened in horror. "It's...h-him. He c-c-came b-back...Millenniumon's back..." The other Digidestined had equally shocked looks on their faces. Even Shadowgallantmon felt uneasy standing in front of this new being. Sakuyamon looked up statistics on Millenniumon's new form before speaking. "I guess the big jackpot question today would be...how do you destroy a God?"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Yamaki re-examined the gigantic machine looming in front of him. "So this is the best your men could come up with? This isn't what I exactly had in mind. Once those nuisances bio-emerge...there's practically no way to predict the effects of military weapons on those creatures." The head engineer, Matohiro Ziosho, noticed the skeptical look in the other man's eyes.

"This is no ordinary piece of weaponry, Mr. Yamaki. With the amount of heat it's packing along with the Yuggoth program, this baby will pretty much solve your Digimon infestation problem." Yamaki gave a snort. "And how exactly would this solve my Digimon infestation problem? Juggernaut wasn't able to do much except doom mankind. I've got to find a solution to correct my error."

A small smile crept up to Matohiro's lips. "And you're looking at it, sir. Let me explain how we developed it...after you told us about our assignment, we started researching the history of artificial intelligence since that is the root of the problem. We weren't having much success until someone stumbled on to an old project which was experimenting with artificial intelligence in the form of monsters from the imaginations and stories of children. And as you know, Digimon became especially popular to children."

He paused for a moment. "We weren't really able to get too much information on who created it. Only a few nicknames like Tao and Dolphin. The data collected in the project was the key to creating what you see before you. You see...we found some schematics for something called an ark. Similar to Noah's Ark, it carried instructions so that the data could behave in a certain manner. We then started to think of ways to convert it into a weapon. It took us a while to understand the mechanics but we finally built an ark of our own. Everything appeared to be going well when we ran into the dilemma of transporting it here. No problem...we'll just have to make it come to us. From the Digimon computer game, we took the programming of various wild Digimon and modified a few algorithms here and there before installing it in the ark. Basically, the only thing it could think of was how to escape the digital world. Once it arrived, we directed it here. To be honest, sir, when you ripped open the portal, it made our jobs a bit easier."

Yamaki shot a dangerous look at the other man. "Why didn't you program it to scan for weaknesses in the digital world? Or better yet, why didn't you program it to self-destruct? At least you would have been able to take out a large portion of the digital world if what you're saying is true about the weaponry." Matohiro gave a small yawn.

"You wanted the backup project to get here as soon as possible. We just gave the ark the basics before transporting it here. In fact, I've finished rigging a self-destruct device. All you need to do is enter your authorization code. Not only will the ark self-destruct, the EM surge that it will send out should permanently disrupt any anomalous digital pattern."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Lunarmillenniumon, mega level, evil God Digimon. Virus type. In this advanced form, he can destroy a dimension using his revamped Dimension Destroyer attack in five minutes! His other attack is called Death Crystal in which he fires a crystal and when it hits his enemy, it encases the victim inside a crystal before shattering the nervous system!! He also has a barrier around him that nullifies energy attacks...some sort of dimensional rift that totally dissipates them completely before they hit. Physical attacks won't work too well as his shell is made out of something that's at least a hundred times stronger than chrome digizoid alloy!! Last, he has a short range telekinetic field, only about a hundred metres. He realized that his aim won't be as sharp when his enemies get close so with this field, he simply pushes them back before firing away..." As Henry finished reading out those statistics, Terriermon's voice popped up again. "Five megas and two ultimates against a God...we're all gonna die..." The boy looked up at the figure looming above them. "For once, you may be right."

Shadowgallantmon narrowed his blue eyes. "No wonder I wasn't able to upload the data. It was preparing to recompile into this form...now, I can find out what will happen when I upload the data of a God." He was about to fly over when a pair of giant hands caught him and squeezed hard enough to stop him momentarily. The dark knight looked straight into Megagargomon's face. "Oh no, you don't!! You've already caused enough trouble when you killed Millenniumon and allowed him to digivolve into this form!!"

The newly evolved Digimon allowed himself to soak in the feeling of absolute power. "Ahhhh...I must say, I owe you a debt of gratitude, Shadowgallantmon. I'll have to think of an appropriate reward..." He noticed a particular figure with a familiar energy reading. The amount of dark energy stored within was incredible...it may even be possible to advance to his final form. Lunarmillenniumon hovered closer to his target before using his telekinesis to lift Ken. "Well, well...what do we have here?"

Imperialdramon sprang into action as well as Omnimon. As soon as they got close, they were repelled by Lunarmillenniumon's telekinetic field. "W-What d-do you want f-from me?" asked the boy in a raspy voice. The dark God gave a chuckle. "Don't worry, Ichijoji...this will only last for a moment." Ken screamed as he felt the back of his neck burning.

Yolei gave a gasp. "What's happening to Ken?!? What is that...crystal thing doing to him?!?" Megagargomon's scanners zoomed in to see what was going on. "From what I can tell, Lunarmillenniumon is somehow extracting the original Dark Spore that infected Ken all those years ago!! With the amount of energy it's radiating, it would be a safe bet that Lunarmillenniumon has plans for it!!"

"Release me at once, you overgrown green tin can!!" The dark knight struggled even harder to get out. Megagargomon tried to hold on but Shadowgallantmon burst free and flew away. As he flew towards the dark God, he powered up his lance. "Try this on for size!!!" A large amount of dark energy was released but as soon as it hit the crystal, it dissipated into nothing. Lunarmillenniumon gave a small annoyed growl. "You know it's rude to interrupt someone when they're in the middle of something. I'll be with you in a moment. In the meantime, you can amuse yourself with these..."

As soon as he finished his sentence, an army of large creatures came out of nowhere. They felt similar to the other creatures that they had been fighting before but these guys appeared to be a whole lot stronger than their previous opponents. "I swear...this guy must know a place with a major bargain to get all of these oafs!" grumbled Shakkoumon. Imperialdramon was about to make another attempt to save Ken but found himself surrounded by several creatures. "I don't have time for this!!" He quickly charged up his weapon before firing.

A small black sphere emerged from the back of Ken's neck. It was radiating a red aura. "...and there we go!! See? I told you that it would be over before you know it!! Whoa...you have quite a bit of dark energy, don't you? This should be quite useful to me in the near future. As a reward, I've decided to give you a relaxing vacation on the beach!"

As Lunarmillenniumon spoke, a vortex appeared from behind him. As it widened, Kari recognized the disconfigurations in the colour of the other plane. Then it hit her. "It's the Dark Ocean!!" The other Digidestined gave simultaneous gasps. "The only catch is that this is a one way trip only!! Enjoy!!!" Lunarmillenniumon tossed Ken inside the vortex without a second thought.

"Ken!!!!" Imperialdramon slashed his way through the hordes of creatures and flew towards the vortex as fast as he could. Before he could reach it, several creatures came up from behind to restrain him. The vortex then closed right in front of Imperialdramon's eyes. "AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!" The mega Digimon gave a howl of pure rage before bursting free from his captors. "Positron Laser!!!" He fired at the dark God but the energy blast simply disappeared before hitting the target.

"This is it...if he could get Ken that easily, then any one of us could be next!! We're in over our heads, trying to fight this guy," muttered Cody. Davis clenched his fists. "Even with all this power...he's still a Digimon and he's probably still vulnerable to the...stuff that messes up Digimon!! Like that thing that happened just before Shadowgallantmon wasted Gallantmon!!"

Lunarmillenniumon turned his attention to the dark knight, who was in the midst of destroying his army. "Sorry to keep you waiting. What is it that you wanted to talk to me about that was so urgent?" Shadowgallantmon gave a sadistic grin underneath his helmet. "I intend to carry out a little experiment...what would happen if I uploaded the data of a so called God? I couldn't think of a good hypothesis so let's just get down to the actual experiment, shall we?"

The dark knight launched himself forward to attack the other mega Digimon. Lunarmillenniumon activated his telekinetic field but Shadowgallantmon kept on going. "Did you forget about my unique abilities already? That will be your downfall!! Obsidian Lance!!!" He shot his right arm forward and hit the crystal. 'No way...not even a dent!!'

Before he could try again, Lunarmillenniumon had already compensated for the additional space time flux and picked him up. "A noble effort but as you can see...well, now. You may not realize it but I too have a scientific curiosity. How about this...what would happen if an object smashed into the ground at the speed of sound?"

The dark God then proceeded to whip Shadowgallantmon into the ground. "Aaauuugghh!!!" Lunarmillenniumon heard a scream but it came from somewhere else. He found the source without a problem. It was a holy knight...a white and red counterpart. "What is this?" He picked up Shadowgallantmon and slammed him into the ground once more. Gallantmon collapsed to the ground in agony. "Takato!!" His friends tried to move towards him but too many creatures were blocking their way.

"Very curious indeed. Apparently, you two have a connection." Lunarmillenniumon lifted Shadowgallantmon and hovered closer to the other fallen Digimon. Within moments, he had two mega Digimon in front of him, unable to move because of a combination of pain and Lunarmillenniumon's telekinetic strength. The dark God dropped Gallantmon to the ground and observed no reaction from Shadowgallantmon. As he picked up the holy knight, he probed their memories. "I see your connection is only one way. Now it makes sense."

Gallantmon could barely lift his head to stare at the dark God in front of them. "Just what do...y-you mean by that...anyway?" Lunarmillenniumon gave a dark chuckle. "I suppose that I can allow a final request and explain things. In all sentient beings, a dark side exists within, containing all the thoughts, actions and thinking patterns that would be questionable by personal ethics established throughout one's life. Once in a while, that dark side needs to be expressed either as a thought or something else. For example...your friends. Rika has the Digimon Queen personality in which the desire to dominate expressed itself. Henry wanted to have someone suffer and then be killed because of the mistaken belief that she killed another. You generally don't express your dark side. You were almost always happy..."

"I think that's the last of them for now!! Let's save Gallantmon before it's too late!!" Sakuyamon started to fly towards the dark God when several dozen more creatures appeared in front of her. Megagargomon gave a sigh as he armed his cannons. "You were saying?" Sakuyamon gave a growl. "Outta my way!!!"

"You've never had to face any big problems and ethical challenges. Rika had to live her life without understanding her father while Henry had to practice discipline everyday in order to refrain himself from using his martial arts skills to gain superiority over others. But with you...life was pretty great. Loving parents, a good home, a romantic interest with the one called Jerri...if you did express your dark side in any manner, it wasn't enough. It wanted to be let out...it wanted to dominate. And when Blackwargrowlmon digivolved after absorbing that last control spire, the dark side of your essence went to him. This is where this whole connection comes in...the dark side is somewhat independent of the essence in whole. But since it originated from the essence, a part of it remained with the collective. Any pain experienced by it affected the whole but any pain experienced by the whole and the dark side feels nothing because of its independence."

Lunarmillenniumon tried to think of an analogy. "It works similarly to the Spirit Link, something I heard about in another dimension. Suppose we have a wizard. He summons some creature. As the creature came from his lifeforce in the first place, any damage dealt to the creature is felt by the wizard. But since the creature's own lifeforce is independent from that of the wizard, if the wizard gets hurt, the creature won't feel it at all. In a technical sense, Shadowgallantmon is a part of you, holy knight."

Gallantmon looked at the dark knight. "I don't believe this!! How can someone so cruel and evil be a part of me?!?" Lunarmillenniumon wasn't paying attention as he was trying to remember something. "Ah, yes!! In all of this excitement, I forgot to set the countdown to destroy this dimension! You know what? I think I'll let you two talk about this little revelation while I go make preparations!"

"Dammit!!!" Sakuyamon had to weave in and out before attacking. "This is getting us nowhere!! How can we shut these guys off all at once?" She noticed a brilliant flash of light in Lunarmillenniumon's direction and a figure flying towards her in freefall motion. Megagargomon quickly caught the knight in his hands. "What the...?" The knight's armour was flashing between white and black with the other garments flashing between red and blue. His blank eyes were flashing between yellow and blue.

Sakuyamon knelt down by her fallen comrade. "Do you have any idea what this means?" The vaccine mega shook his head. "I wish I knew. For all we know, there could be an epic battle going on within to see who gains full control of Takato's essence. The question is...who's going to win?"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Let's do this..." Matohiro gave a nod as he punched in the final launch sequence. Slowly, the powerful weapon came to life. As it rose into the air, Yamaki clutched the remote that would activate the detonation device. 'Grani...mythical war horse. You shall be the key to eradicating the Digimon threat once and for all.'

* * * * * * * * * * * *

'I...I'm alive...' That was the first thought to pop up in Ken Ichijoji's head when he started to regain consciousness. He could have sworn he was hearing distorted voices. 'What were those whispers?' The boy slowly opened his eyes to see a grey sky. He looked around and became horrified when he recognized the place.

'This is where it all happened...after I became sick with that thing hitting my neck, I came here. I changed my Digivice and became the Digimon Emperor. I guess this is my final punishment. To spend eternity in my own nightmare...' Ken heard a pair of footsteps come from behind him. He turned around to face two dark figures. One of them slowly came into view. "Ken, it's been a while," said the other boy with a twinkle in his blue eyes. Ken gave a gasp. "Ryo!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Man...you've grown so much, Ken. The last time I saw you, your hair was a lot shorter!!" The next thing Ryo knew, Ken's hands were clutching his shoulders. "Ryo?!? Is that really you?!? How did you get here?!? I have so many questions...what do you know about me? How did you beat Millenniumon in the first place? Can you help us stop him?"

The legendary tamer gave a fond smile. "Ken, slow down!! If we can find a gateway back to where you came from then maybe we can make a difference in your battle." Their conversation was interrupted when Cyberdramon leaned in close to Ken, as if examining him. He gave a growl. "I don't believe this...Millenniumon has been able to digivolve into Lunarmillenniumon."

"What? How do you know this, Cyberdramon? Can you be sure?" The ultimate Digimon turned to his partner before giving a small snarl. "I'm sure of it!! When you fuse with Millenniumon, then you can determine whether or not he has digivolved! I can sense that aura...it's all over Ken. We've also got another problem. Do you remember where the spore struck Ken?" Ryo turned the other boy around to take a look and stiffened when he saw the mark.

"Yeah...Lunarmillenniumon did something to me. The back of my neck felt like it was on fire or something." The other boy did not answer due to his mind being filled with a horrifying possibility. 'The amount of dark energy created by Ken increased over the years and powered up the spore. From these markings, it was at the point where the energy that the spore had collected could be used to allow Lunarmillenniumon to transform to his final form...Zeedmillenniumon.'

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"It used to be so simple...just me in some big red void and Guilmon. But now, everything's all jumbled." Takato looked around for some sort of sign but had no luck. His essence has taken the form of a knight with white armour and a red tunic, covering the front and back parts of the vertical midsection (AN: What I mean is the part between the arms and legs. Also, it may be easier if you think about the knights in the Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie). The hazard sign was in white on the red tunic.

"That's because I'm here as well." The boy froze as he heard a chilling voice. Much like his own but dark and dangerous. 'That sounds almost like-' He didn't have time to finish the thought as he became the recipient of a powerful blow. When he looked up again, he saw an unconscious Guilmon behind some sort of force field...and himself.

His other self had the same features except his armour was black and his tunic was blue. "What's going on?!?" demanded the boy. Dark Takato gave a sadistic grin. "Don't you get it? Lunarmillenniumon placed us here to settle this out. Whoever emerges from this will be the one who gets Guilmon's power. I would say by the digital data and power merging along with the two halves of the essence...his power has probably tripled. Quadrupled even. It's just one big jackpot prize!"

Takato quickly got up. "Don't you dare talk about Guilmon like he's a prize to be won!! He's my best friend and I won't let you corrupt him!!" His doppelganger just snorted. "Don't give me all of this crap. He's just a way to gain power. That's what being a tamer really is. Once you become a tamer, the world is right there, ready to be plucked. All you gotta do is reach out. Don't be a fool. Submit to the darkness and unleash chaos upon the world!!" Takato started to charge towards his dark half. "Never!!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Dammit...of all the times you have to blitz out on us. You have a real lousy sense of timing, gogglehead," muttered Sakuyamon as she kept her eye out for enemies. Megagargomon and the others were trying to figure out a way to halt the countdown to doomsday initiated by Lunarmillenniumon. Anf if that wasn't hard enough, try doing that while battling an army.

"We've got to find a way to get Ken out of wherever he went!!" Imperialdramon dodged another attack before firing again. Shakkoumon deflected another attack. "Unfortunately, his rescue will have to take a back seat on our agenda! Our top priority is stopping Lunarmillenniumon...which is nearly impossible."

The other Digimon attacked another one of the creatures viciously. "Easy for you to say!! Your partners aren't trapped in another dimension!!!" Before Shakkoumon could make a reply, he noticed a red object flying towards their position. "What in the digital world is that?" As it came closer, it fired a strange blue beam that seemed to destroy several units of Lunarmillenniumon's army.

"What's this? A new toy? It looks like that it was created by the humans to stop me...very interesting." As soon as the object got close, the dark God activated his telekinetic field. "How rude...it vaporized a part of my army just like that!! This is obviously no ordinary piece of machinery."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"So far, so good. We're getting readings and pictures of all the Digimon involved in the battle. This could be useful in the future...no way!! Sir, we got a problem! Grani has been immobilized!! I can't get any response from it!!!" Yamaki came up from behind. "Is it still possible to detonate the unit?"

Matohiro kept typing as he performed a quick diagnostic. "Some sort of external force is stopping Grani. Everything else seems to be fine. The force that's holding Grani doesn't seem to be affected by the weapons." Yamaki punched in his authorization code for detonation. "One way or another, this ends now!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Another problem? Geez...the list keeps growing and growing," grumbled Baihumon. Ebonwumon gave the other holy beast a glare. "This is serious, Baihumon. Millenniumon has evolved to the form where he can cross quantum planes. After he has destroyed all of our realms, he'll go to another quantum plane to destroy it. He has to be stopped now before other innocent beings die from his destructive rampage."

"How can we stop him? The only person that could have had a chance of stopping him is trapped in the Dark Ocean. Even if he did make it out and confronted Millenniumon, there's no guarantee that he could do anything," stated Zhuqiaomon. Azulongmon began to speak. "Still, we have to get him out of the Dark Ocean. At least that way, there's some hope."

The vaccine mega Digimon decided that this was the time to discuss the other possibility. "Now with Millenniumon in his new form, opening a gateway to the Dark Ocean has gotten a lot harder. Normally, a select few chosen children can open a gateway to the Dark Ocean by tapping into their negative energy but that has become too risky for them. The only other option is for us to open a gateway by combining all of our strengths together. It would be powerful enough for Ryo's Digivice to detect. However, we can only hold the gate open for a few minutes. After that, we will have to retreat to our own realms to regenerate."

Azulongmon was about to protest but Ebonwumon cut him off. "Yes, I know that this will mean leaving your chosen in Zhuqiaomon's realm and allowing the Undead Lord to rise again but this is a desperate time. There are other Digidestined children in your realm that will be able to hold him off, perhaps even defeat him. Plus, you still have six of the special chosen children in Japan." The dragon gave a small sigh. "I sincerely hope that will be enough."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"What must I do to get you to see the truth? Man, you are one seriously messed up kid. So optimistic...having lots of faith in every single damn thing and all." Dark Takato tossed his twin for a strong shoulder throw. The other boy landed on his back. "Why are you so obsessed about getting me to see your point of view? It's because you want Gallantmon out of the picture and Shadowgallantmon taking control permanently!!"

"I'm just trying to give you a new sense of perception about the world and life itself. What I want is irrelevant." Takato got up before speaking. "Irrelevant, my butt. This whole situation is revolving around what you want. And the point is that you want everything to be-" He was cut off as a wave of dizziness hit him hard.

"What is going on out there? Am I getting pounded by those wacky creatures in Lunarmillenniumon's army?" Dark Takato was also feeling the effects of the dizziness. "You're asking me?!? How the hell am I supposed to know? But I think it's safe to assume that in a few moments, Lunarmillenniumon is going to vaporize the world into space dust or something. And there's nothing that can be done to stop him."

"Don't talk like that!! He may be a dark God but he's still a Digimon and each Digimon has some sort of weakness! I just have to figure out what it is!!" Takato tried to think but his head was still spinning from the effects of the mysterious shockwave. "Well, if you are going to do something then you need to be back in reality. If you allow me to take control, then I should be able to give you a plan that you would never have thought of considering," stated Dark Takato.

The other boy gave a laugh. "I may not be the sharpest guy around but I'm smart enough to keep you from winning!! I won't let you drag me down into a world where ethics and morals have no home!!" Dark Takato crossed his arms. "Fine then. We'll both die right here...and then Kai, mom, dad, Guilmon, Rika, Jerri...the whole gang...and let's not forget billions of people around the world and billions of Digimon in the digital world!" (AN: I think the song "Drag You Down" by Finger Eleven would suit this little scene)

Takato froze as he heard the words come out from his dark doppleganger's mouth. Dark Takato continued to speak. "You know this is why being a hero really sucks. Heroes are always placed in paradoxal situations like this. Suppose we have a half decent villain who gives you a choice of which hostage to save...do you save someone you care about or do you save twenty people you don't know? Whatever choice the hero makes, there will be consequences and repercussions. That's opportunity cost, the cost of taking one action over another."

He paused for a moment. "Let's talk about your current predicament. As a holy knight, you stand to fight against the forces of darkness until you die. At the same time, you have taken an oath to preserve life on earth and the digital world. Right now, those two rules are contradicting each other. If you continue to fight me, then the whole world is doomed. If you decide to save the world along with your loved ones, you must surrender to me. The choice is yours but I would suggest that you surrender. Saving the world is a higher priority than being true to yourself."

Takato started speaking again. "The fact is that you represent a part of me that I was afraid to face. You came alive when Arukenimon used that control spire to create the dark creature from the back of my head. I didn't want to accept you because I was afraid that I would turn out to be like you. But now I realize that the choices that I make determines the type of person I will become. And now my choice is this...I'm not going to keep fighting. But rather than submitting to you, I embrace you as part of me." His dark counterpart raised an eyebrow. "Say what?"

"I know that thinking like a holy knight can only get me so far in battles. Sometimes, one must be deceitful, sneaky, cunning and willing to do what it takes to win. That's what I've been missing...a balance between personal ethics and chaotic tendencies. One day, I will have to solely rely on you to win a battle." Dark Takato stayed silent. Takato gave a shrug. "But not today, I'm afraid. In fact...we really should be getting back to reality."

As the boy spoke those words, his dark counterpart started floating towards him. He was trying to get free but something bound him together. "You're going to have to realize the fact that you can never dominate me unless I allow it. And that's never going to happen. This is my domain and in here, what I say goes!!" Dark Takato vanished into thin air and the red tunic on Takato changed from red to blue.

He was about to walk over to Guilmon when he heard the voice of his dark counterpart. "So you've accepted the fact that you can't get rid of me. Eventually, you will be worn down by constant fighting, both physically and emotionally. Your thoughts of despair will invigorate me...and I will rise again. Mark my words. The voices of darkness shall never be silenced..."

Takato gently started to shake Guilmon. The rookie Digimon got up groggily. "What's going on, Takatomon? I feel a bit funny." The boy narrowed his eyes. "It must have been that weird thing that caused my headache. We'll have to find out when we get back. You up to it?" Guilmon nodded enthusiastically.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Silphymon, talk to me!! Just what happened out there?!?" Right in front of Yolei's eyes, the ultimate Digimon appeared to be fading in and out. "It was weird...one minute, we were all fighting those agents. Then they freeze up and disappear. A split second later, I feel like my insides are tearing me apart!"

"The same thing must be happening to me too...this all started when I saw that red object come out of the sky. I think it short circuited and sent out some big pulse to disrupt our digital patterns," murmured Shakkoumon. TK took out his D terminal. "It's probably disrupting our D terminals too. I can't get this to work!"

"What about Imperialdramon, Omnimon and the tamers? How did this pulse affect them? Did Lunarmillenniumon get affected too?" asked Kari. Davis took a look at the gigantic figure before them. "I can't tell but it seems like the guy's still ready to blow up the world!! This majorly bites!!!"

Cody saw their two allies preparing for another attack. "Imperialdramon and Omnimon don't seem to be suffering any of the symptoms that Silphymon and Shakkoumon are experiencing. Or at least it doesn't look like it...perhaps the symptoms are less severe in their case since they're mega Digimon. I'm not sure about Henry, Rika and Takato though but they should be fine now that they're mega Digimon as well." Yolei gave a small gasp when she looked up. "Actually, you should scratch that statement about Rika being fine...Lunarmillenniumon has got her!!" Hovering in front of the dark God was a small yellow and black figure.

A wave of bitterness swept over Henry. "I should have fought harder to stop the enemy skirmish!! If it wasn't...she didn't have to help us!! Thanks to me, she was positioned in a way that the pulse would send her flying straight into Lunarmillenniumon's clutches! I could have stopped them myself so that she wouldn't have to enter the battle!!" Terriermon gave a groan. "Speak for yourself...they were pounding us like crazy..."

Omnimon flew up towards the dark God. "Release her at once, you fiend!!!" At this moment, if Lunarmillenniumon had visible eyebrows, they would probably be twitching with pure disgust. "That has got to be one of the lamest heroic lines I've ever heard...even for a holy knight. It's just as corny as 'you won't get away with this!' Good grief...Death Crystal!!" He fired his attack which hit the holy knight square in the chest. The momentum sent him plowing straight into Imperialdramon before the both of them crashed to the ground.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Hey...Ryo? Are you in there? What's wrong?" Ken waved quickly in front of the other boy's face. The legendary tamer blinked. "Sorry...I was just thinking of the time when you pushed me down to prevent the Dark Spore from infecting me. You got infected instead...I wish I could have done something to help you through your recovery, Ken. I should have been there to guide you out of the darkness when you became the Digimon Emperor!!"

"There are better things to do than listen to you berate yourself, Ryo!!" snapped Cyberdramon. Before the ultimate vaccine Digimon could continue, a flash of light erupted several metres behind them. It was blinking in and out as a vortex started to form. Ken had to shield his eyes. "What is that?"

Ryo narrowed his blue eyes. "It looks like a dimensional portal or something! Judging by the way it's fluctuating, I would assume that one person can cross through safely!! Any more and they'll be trapped in dimensional limbo...I think." Cyberdramon straightened himself. "The portal leads straight to the battle!! I can sense Lunarmillenniumon's power!!"

A look of hope made its way to Ken's face. "Now's your opportunity to make a difference in the battle, Ryo!!" The other boy looked at his old companion. "I don't think that-" Before he could complete his sentence, Ken was right behind him. "There's no time!! Get going!!" He gave a mighty shove, forcing the legendary tamer towards the portal.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"You have always been a dominating character throughout your entire life. Isn't this ironic that you no longer possess that feeling of dominance? Must be scary...knowing that you have to submit to a far superior being. Oh, well. That fear will soon be removed when this world is destroyed in about two minutes." Sakuyamon chose to remain silent in front of the dark God.

"Mega Barrage!!" Several green missiles flew past Sakuyamon to hit Lunarmillenniumon. "Oh, please." Megagargomon soon found himself ensnared by Lunarmillenniumon's telekinetic field. The dark God simply tossed him aside somewhere else. "Your struggle is pointless. You can't stop me."

Down below, Gallantmon had awakened with his internal conflict resolved for the moment. He shook off his headache before checking out the battle scene. All of the creatures in Lunarmillenniumon's army had vanished without a trace. 'At least that's one less thing to worry about.'

That thought of relief quickly vanished when he saw Sakuyamon trapped in Lunarmillenniumon's telekinetic field. 'Rika!! I gotta help her!!' Before he could go rushing in, he paused for a moment. 'But rushing in head first won't help. I need some sort of a sneaky plan...wait a second! I don't usually use sneaky plans!! Must be that dark side or something. But sneaky plans are useless when it comes to dealing with Gods!!'

A loud mechanical noise interrupted his thoughts. It appeared to be originating sixty metres away. Gallantmon quickly moved to the source of the sound and found a red object shaped like a dragon. Smoke and sparks were coming out of it. The machine made several more mechanical noises (AN: like that smart bomb in Voyager) that would be nothing but random noise to normal people but the holy knight could feel its plea for help.

"Who are you? What are you?" Time seemed to slow down for Gallantmon as he listened to the story told by the machine before him. "I am called Grani. I originally came from the digital world and emerged here to be used as a weapon to stop the chaos that is occurring now. They placed an electromagnetic pulse to trigger when my self detonation sequence is activated. However that was not enough to bring down the giant crystal entity. My sacrifice was for nothing. Help me, please. I do not wish for my existence to end like this."

The holy knight wasn't sure of what to do. There were many questions that had to be answered concerning this being from the digital world. Is this even a Digimon? "Takatomon!! We have to help Grani!" The boy gave a sympathetic look. "I wish I could help. But I don't know what to do."

"You have to believe you can do this, Takatomon. We have all sorts of weird powers,.from Shadowgallantmon to the crazy powers of that scary demon we carry. Maybe there's another power that we can use to save Grani," stated Guilmon. Takato gave a small sigh. "Well, since I'm a holy knight and all, maybe I got super heavenly powers or something. Hopefully Grani can help us in our fight. Here goes nothing..."

Gallantmon morphed his lance into a hand before placing it on the red machine. At first, nothing happened. Then a surge of energy went straight through the holy knight to the red machine. The electronic damage seemed to repair itself as Grani could feel itself being reborn. As soon as the light show was over, the machine felt renewed beyond belief. Gallantmon slowly backed away. "I think that did the trick. Rise again and...um...ah, nuts. I was never good at this type of heroic line stuff," grumbled the holy knight.

Grani made more noises that translated into speech when Gallantmon heard it. "I am in your debt. In return for giving me another chance, I offer you my services. I have been armed with several weapons.In addition, I can also enhance the abilities of one Digimon by acting as their steed. My original programmers did not know about this as it was inadvertently programmed into my systems." Takato approached the machine again. "So you can make me stronger?"

"There is little time. We must rejoin the battle...if it is still going on." Gallantmon nodded as he hopped on the red glider. As soon as he did, it started to lift off into the air. Gallantmon could feel the changes flowing through him. The machine's database was completely open so he could examine the changes for himself. 'Grani wasn't kidding about weaponry. He has the Yuggoth Blaster and something called the Dragon Driver. Those two attacks are becoming twice as powerful than my own because of our shared connection! The amount of aerial maneuverability and speed is at least-' "WHOA!!!" He never got a chance to finish his thought as Grani took off like a bullet.

"Next time you could have warned me!! Now let's go save Sakuyamon and rejoin the others!" Gallantmon lost the feeling of riding the glider. He felt like he was the machine doing the actual flying. "Let's see if we can make a difference. Arm Yuggoth Blaster and fire at Lunarmillenniumon!!"

Lunarmillenniumon had been too preoccupied with probing Sakuyamon that he didn't even notice the attack coming. Although there wasn't any damage, the attack disrupted his telekinetic field, releasing Sakuyamon. The next thing either of them knew, Gallantmon had swooped in, scooped Sakuyamon into his arms and blasted off. The dark God attempted to use his field but had no luck thanks to the attack.

"Are you alright?" The way he looked at her with concern in those lovable golden eyes of his made her feel like hugging him to death. Normally, she would have been disgusted by playing the role of the damsel in distress who had to be rescued by a knight in shining armour. But considering that this is a guy who she loves plus the fact that in every person's life comes a moment when for a brief period, they are more than what they are...she didn't mind being saved this time. In fact, the way he would look now with his cape flapping in the wind and a powerful glider as his transportation...he would look magnificent. Sakuyamon quickly regained her composure before anwering his question. "Yeah...thanks for the save."

"No problem...I guess that's all that you're gonna say?" Sakuyamon gave her boyfriend a strange look. "What else would you want me to say? Don't tell me you want me to swoon and scream 'My Hero!!' at the top of my lungs! All you goggleheads are the same...your male egos won't be satisfied until you hit a major point with your girlfriend, isn't that right?" The holy knight started to sputter uncontrollably.

She hopped out of his arms but held on tight with the speed they were going at. "What about you? You were fighting Shadowgallantmon inside...but now you seem to be normal and you found a new weapon in the process." Gallantmon looked relieved that the subject was changed. "I'll have to explain later. We should regroup with the others and go in for one last ditch effort against Lunarmillenniumon."

They heard a loud groan and saw Megagargomon with a dizzy look in his eyes. Gallantmon quickly directed Grani to fly in that direction. "Hey...how are you holding up?" The vaccine Digimon shook his head to wave off the dizziness. "After being tossed around by a God for the last little bit...Takato, Rika! How...? Never mind, I'm just glad you're alright!"

The trio approached the Digidestined but didn't get much of a reponse as they were too preoccupied. Before Sakuyamon could demand what was going on, they saw it for themselves. Omnimon was being encased in crystal as a result of the Death Crystal attack. His sword was lying a few metres away. Imperialdramon was trying to crack the crystal and free his comrade but his blows were having no effect.

"Omnimon, you've got to pull through! If you die, we're finished!!" The formation had reached the holy knight's neck. "Wrong. We're only finished if we believe it. As long as there are those who would stand and fight against monstrosities forged by the powers of darkness, there is always hope. Even with the odds against us-"

He was cut off as the crystal covered his head. A moment later, the formation disappeared, leaving only remnants of his data. "H-he's gone..." whispered Kari in a choked tone. The data started to go towards the fallen sword. "He may be gone but he will not be forgotten. I won't allow his sacrifice to go in vain!!" Imperialdramon grabbed the glowing Omega Sword before raising it high.

"Imperialdramon mode-changed to..." His black armour was replaced by a white colour. Three golden toes formed on the end of each foot. A white helmet with golden spikes at the top formed while white shoulder pads with more golden spikes appeared. The wings on his back changed to a grey colour. The blue skin on his arms and tail still remained. In fact, the Digimon did not change shape by much. He looked similar to his fighter mode appearance (except for colour of course) but there was an aura radiating, that similar to a holy knight. "...Paladin Mode!!!"

"That's Imperialdramon's most powerful form," stated Sakuyamon with awe in her voice. Megagargomon chose to remain silent. Gallantmon narrowed his golden eyes. "He's strong...I can feel it. I just hope that he can tip the battle in our favour." They watched as the Omega Sword changed shape as a result of the new user.

'How nice...they've all gathered in one spot so I can finish them off rather easily...' Lunarmillenniumon gathered some extra strength and began to channel his attack. "Death Crystal!!!" Soon several energy attacks were flying towards the group. Megagargomon's sensors beeped loudly. He quickly turned around and saw the attacks coming towards them with great speed. "Incoming!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Ryo struggled to regain his footing as he stumbled towards the somewhat unstable portal but an arm shot out to grab him. He looked back and gave a small sigh of relief as he saw Cyberdramon. Ken had an upset look. "Why did you do that for?!? If he doesn't oppose Lunarmillenniumon then everything will be gone!!"

The ultimate Digimon released his partner as soon as he brought him back. "If I'm going to stand a chance, then I'm going to need my partner with me-" Ryo gave a start as Cyberdramon made a dash for the portal with the promise of battle on the other side. He whipped out his Digivice. A few seconds later, Cyberdramon was restrained by Ryo's whip.

Ken recognized the design of the Digivice. "Wait a minute!! That Digivice...that's the same one that Rika, Henry and Takato have!" Ryo looked at his friend. "So your friends are Digimon Tamers too? Then maybe I can still help you. In my right pocket, there's a small set of five cards. Once you get them, you can cross over and give them to your friends. They should provide a major power boost!"

The other boy hesitated before reaching into his friend's pocket. Sure enough, there were five cards, each looking like a different Chess piece. "But what about you? How are we going to get you out of here?" Ryo gave a sad smile. "Don't worry about me now, buddy. You've got to get back to your friends. Besides, I've been able to survive in the digital world so I'll be fine. By the way...tell that wildcat Rika I said hi!!" Ken forced himself to look away from his friend before jumping through the vortex.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

By the time Megagargomon had shouted his warning, the attacks were closing in on their targets. The vaccine Digimon raised his arms to shield himself but heard several swishing noises. When he looked again, Imperialdramon was in front, using his sword to deflect the attacks. (AN: Kind of like when Jade deflected the bullets in the second last episode of the third season of Spawn) 'Talk about speed!! It must be due to a combination of Omnimon and Imperialdramon's aerial combat abilities!'

"Everyone...listen up. I'm going to try and stabilize that dimensional rift surrounding Lunarmillenniumon. Once it's down, you've got to pound him with everything you've got, understood? If you guys can make a crack in that shell, then I think I can finish him off!!" Before Sakuyamon could ask if the holy knight was out of his mind, Imperialdramon burst forward to meet his nemesis.

Lunarmillenniumon felt a new power emerging from the ashes of Omnimon. "What?!? Another holy knight?! You holy knights are like gnats...small and annoying as hell!!" The dark God noticed a shape coming towards him at a tremendous speed. "And so...another one shall bite the dust. Death Crystal!!!" Imperialdramon made a slash with his Omega Sword and deflected the attack as he kept moving.

"So that's why nothing happened when my attack reached them. No matter...soon, this realm will cease to exist and I can move on to other, more interesting places." Imperialdramon ignored Lunarmillenniumon's statement as he got closer. The dark God still couldn't activate his telekinetic field since the Yuggoth Blaster's effect hadn't worn off yet.

As soon as the holy knight Digimon got into place, his sword began to glow brightly. 'Please let this work...' With a mighty thrust, he shoved it past the dimensional warp perimeter, just inches away from the crystal surface. The middle section of the weapon appeared to be in a dimensional flux...until it started to straighten out. "How is this possible?!" Lunarmillenniumon wasn't able to aim his Death Crystal attack properly since Imperialdramon was too close.

The vaccine Digimon gave a cold look at the entity inside the crystal. "The powers of Courage and Friendship transcend even your dimensional powers, Lunarmillenniumon! The Omega Sword's strength is a reflection of the strength of those two elements from across countless dimensions!!" The dark God gave a gigantic laugh. "A noble effort but I am indestructible!! You can't possibly win!!"

"Maybe not but we gotta try anyway!! Gargo Missile!!" The others had moved in closer to use every precious second that Imperialdramon had bought for them. The air soon filled with Digimon yelling out attack names. "Justice Beam!!" "Static Force!!" "Fox Drive!!" "Final Elysian!!"

All of their combined attacks hit the crystal but when the smoke cleared, the crystal remained unscathed. Yolei couldn't believe her eyes. "Not even a crack!" Lunarmillenniumon gave an annoyed growl. "Time to exterminate you pests...Death Crystal!!" Several attacks flew towards the group.

Before any of them could react, a small crackle of lightning sparked in front of them. The next thing they knew, a portal had opened and Ken was thrown several feet to the right of the vortex, right at Cody's feet. Its vacuum effect forced the attacks to turn toward it. After the crystal attacks went through, the vortex closed. TK helped the other boy stand up. "Ken!! How did you get back?" "No time!! Where are the tamers?"

Gallantmon and Sakuyamon landed in front of him. "Talk about a miracle! Now if only we could pull off the big one," mumbled the holy knight. Ken handed over the package to the two mega Digimon. "These cards may help pull that miracle off, courtesy of one Ryo Akiyama." Sakuyamon's face slightly twitched at the mention of his name. Gallantmon took the cards and gave a start. "Hey! I haven't seen these cards before in the game!!"

The shaman Digimon leaned in closer to get a better look. "I think I've seen them before! They're called the Goliath cards and they're based on the five non-pawn Chess pieces. Each card can boost the attack power of a Digimon but they give very specific conditions and can only be used with Digimon with specific attributes. These cards are very rare and are only given to players who are ranked number one in their respective region at the end of the year. The rankings are monitored by the Digimon Players Organization and they can be raised or lowered depending on how you do if you participate in an event sanctioned by the Players Organization."

"Well, that's fine and dandy but how can you guys use them? When you merged with your Digimon, your Digivices vanished. And if you do find a way to use those cards, would there be any side effects? We've got to consider those too," stated Cody. Sakuyamon quickly scanned the cards. "We've run out of time...this is as good as we're going to get it. I'll give Einstein the info." She gave the holy knight the cards before flying up to quickly talk to Henry.

"Well...let's do this." Gallantmon raised a card high into the air. "Digi Modify!! Goliath Knight Activate!!" For a short while, nothing happened. "Um...pretty please?" The card glowed briefly before a small piece of marble shaped like a horse's head materialized around his left wrist. Moments later, the holy knight felt a new strength surge through him. He slowly began to rise to confront the enemy.

Imperialdramon saw a dark aura flare up as Lunarmillenniumon prepared to attack. "I was going to be nice and give your pals painless deaths when I blow this scrap heap up but now they've all gotta go out the slow and painful way!! Death Crystal!!" He fired his crystal at the other holy knight. Before they connected, Gallantmon and Grani vanished without a trace and then reappeared in a different position. "That was wicked!!" Gallantmon gave a hearty laugh before teleporting closer and closer to Lunarmillenniumon. Every time he fired his attack, the holy knight would teleport out of the way. While he provided this distraction, Silphymon and Shakkoumon kept moving around the dark God, attacking constantly. Gallantmon tried to fire his own attacks but he had to keep moving with the crystal assaults constantly coming at him.

Sakuyamon quickly landed in front of the other kids. "Would someone care to explain how the heck is he doing that vanishing act?" Megagargomon leaned down in order to listen in. "I have no idea. All he did was use one of those cards...um...Goliath Knight or something like that. We were able to see some sort of piece appear on his left wrist. Looked like a little horsey. That knight device must be giving him those powers," stated Davis.

Megagargomon placed the pieces of the puzzle together. "I think I get it. Those cards are practically item cards. If we use them, they form into real items into which we can directly use their powers. As for his teleportation ability...in the game of Chess, the knight piece moves in an L shape in any direction. That is what makes it a dangerous piece. With the fact that it can jump from square to square, it doesn't matter how many pieces swarm it. It can simply jump away with a single move. The teleportation sequence must be based on that L shape move!!"

Sakuyamon looked up. "So what you're saying is that not only do we gain additional power but our movements are changed to the point where we move like those Chess pieces?" The other Digimon gave a small shrug. "It's the only theory that seems to fit amidst all this chaos."

A small dark smile appeared on the shaman Digimon's lips. "I see. It's time to show Lunarmillenniumon that nobody messes with the Digimon Queen and gets away with it. Digi Modify!! Goliath Queen Activate!" A small piece materialized around her neck. Before Megagargomon could react, she zoomed off. "Why am I not surprised?"

"What do you mean, Henry?" asked Terriermon. The boy gave a small grin. "Rika's always the type of person to go for the major power players and cards. In Chess, the Queen is the most powerful piece with the combined abilities of the Bishop and Rook. And it's the main reason why I keep winning against my dad."

"I didn't know you liked Chess. Tell ya what...on your next birthday or Christmas, I'll get you a Chess program for your computer. And the fun part is that it'll keep insulting you until you win!!" Henry didn't respond. He was focused on getting a card to help the others but with his size...it'll take a bit more time.

"Aw, man!! Can't you give me a break?" Gallantmon teleported out of the way of the latest barrage of attacks. Before Lunarmillenniumon could reply, he heard someone else shout an attack name. "Dragon Helix!!" Sakuyamon flew past him at an incredible speed before firing her attack. With the attack taking most of her energy, she had to land. The holy knight wasted no time and began spinning towards the dark God at the same spot where Sakuyamon fired. "Dragon Driver!!" A silhouette of a red dragon briefly appeared and gave a roar before blasting the surface.

"Goliath Rook? I guess that would fit since it's a fortress and...yeah. So how are we going to use this new power?" The boy kept focused. Slowly every missile launcher opened except for the two yellow faces. "Simple. A combination attack would maximize the amount of damage we deal! Gargo Barrage!!" While the two giant yellow face missiles were being fired, several other, smaller green missiles were fired as well and hit the same spot that his other two friends attacked.

Kari saw the wave of smoke heading their way. "Heads up!!" As the smoke cloud made its way over to the group, they could feel the pressure and tension rising. They only have about a minute and five seconds at most before Lunarmillenniumon's Dimension Destroyer was powered up.

When the smoke finally cleared, startled gasps escaped the lips of almost everyone when they saw a tiny jagged crack on the otherwise smooth surface of the crystal. Imperialdramon gave a tiny grin and moved closer to the crack. His left arm changed into a giant cannon. "Giga Crusher!!" He aimed it at the same spot where the tamers had attacked. 'I have to make this count. The others don't have anything left in them.'

The energy wave slammed onto the surface and widened the crack a bit more. Lunarmillenniumon couldn't believe what he was seeing. "This is insane!! I am the most powerful force in the universe!!! How can the pets of mere children be doing this?!?!?" Imperialdramon stepped back and brought his cannon and his Omega Sword together. His arms changed to form a giant cannon with the Greek Omega symbol on both sides. "A God is only as strong as those who believe in him. And since there is nobody who believes in you, you're just another virus that's about to be eradicated!! Hyper Prominence!!!"

"Death Crystal!!" The two attacks collided against each other but the crystals couldn't penetrate the beam which was shaped like the Greek Omega symbol. After a few moments, the beam split through and hit the crystal hard. Imperialdramon kept pouring energy into the attack. Finally, the beam smashed through the crystal shield.

Lunarmillenniumon gave a scream before his whole crystal was flooded by light on the inside. It wasn't long until the crystal shattered. "What the-" A giant bluish ring of energy seemed to spread out as soon as the crystal shattered. (AN: Like the temporal incursions in Voyager's "Year of Hell") The entire group tried to shield their eyes as the light display was extremely bright. "My internal chronometer is going haywire!! It must be some sort of temporal shockwave created from the energy he was storing to destroy our dimension!!" exclaimed Megagargomon.

"Ack!!!" The strength of the shockwave knocked Gallantmon off of Grani. He tried to regain control in the air but he didn't have a lot of energy left in him. Grani couldn't move with the shockwave forcing it into another direction. The holy knight expected to slam into the ground. Instead, he landed into the arms of his girlfriend. "Are you alright?" asked the shaman Digimon softly.

Gallantmon gave a sigh. "Oh, boy. This is the part where I scream 'My Heroine!!' at the top of my lungs, right?" Sakuyamon shook her head, wondering how she ever fell in love with him in the first place. "Don't be an idiot." She dropped him after she stated her remark and looked back to see what was happening.

They saw Megagargomon and Imperialdramon landing near what was left of a building. Shakkoumon and Silphymon had transformed back to their in-training forms and the Digidestined were coming over to greet their friends. "If it wasn't for you guys getting that crack in the shell, we wouldn't be standing here right now. Thanks." Sakuyamon placed a firm grip on Gallantmon's shoulder with a look that stated 'Go into fan mode right now and I will kill you'. The viral holy knight gave a tiny cough. "You opened up that chance. We just did what we could with the time you bought for us."

"Man!! That was a majorly awesome battle!! And all of us came out...oh, right. Omnimon." Davis stopped talking. Megagargomon looked at Imperialdramon. "Omnimon's data is contained within the Omega Sword, right? If you can get back to your world, you should speak to Azulongmon or Gennai...maybe they can help."

"The problem is how do we get back home?" asked Yolei. "Yeah...it's not like a portal to our dimension is going to appear conveniently for us or something-" TK was cut off as they saw several flashes of light from one direction. It looked like a tear in reality. More flashes of light started to show up in other directions.

Megagargomon started scanning the tears in reality. "I can't make heads or tails out of these!! But I think that these rifts lead to other parallel realities and dimensions. Now that the rifts are there, all we need to do is stabilize a portal and find your dimension...which is easier said than done." Imperialdramon walked over to a rift right behind Kari. "There...that is where our dimension is. I can sense Matt and Tai in there. I guess I inherited a few additional senses when I picked up the Omega Sword with Omnimon's data."

Megagargomon began to speak again. "Wait!! There's no telling how much has changed! The temporal shockwave didn't appear to affect us because we were some sort of focal point. Since it originated from Lunarmillenniumon's energy, it can travel through time and space which means it could have sped up events or slowed them down in other dimensions!!" A look of understanding was reflected in Imperialdramon's eyes.

"It is risky to try and get back but it is our home. We belong there...after all, if we stayed here, mobs of teenage girls would be trying to get a date with TK, Ken or Cody...and Davis of course. As for the unknown events that may have happened while we were away, we simply must face them. That's life, you know. Every living being must face the unknown and deal with it as best they can. In fact, it kind of sounds a lot like the future." Imperialdramon formed the Omega Sword and prepared to stabilize a portal.

"One quick thing, Imperialdramon. If you see Arukenimon and Mummymon, give them a chance to find a better life for themselves." A puzzled look appeared on Imperialdramon's face as Gallantmon made his plea. "Yeah, they were born like bad guys but they can change given the right incentive and all. It's just that they were killed in the end without any meaning and..."

"Say no more. You know, I never would have hesistated to kill them after all the trouble they have caused but with the way you try to give every living being purpose...you're indeed a far superior holy knight than Omnimon and myself combined." Gallantmon beamed at that comment. The two holy knight Digimon shook hands. "Good luck with whatever it is you're doing."

"I guess this is goodbye...I just gotta say, it's been one wild ride!!" Davis gave his trademark grin. "You can say that again what with me having a psychopath as my partner and all," grumbled Megagargomon.

"Maybe one day our paths will meet again. My grandfather usually says that the lives between good friends are intertwined with each other. Like my father and his best friend," stated Cody as he gently picked up Upamon. "I don't doubt that for a second, Cody," added TK with a sleeping Tokomon in his arms.

Yolei looked at Sakuyamon. "Just don't let that Digimon Queen attitude get out of hand...your majesty." A smirk was on the girl's face as she scooped up Poromon. "You don't have to be a tomboy all the time. Maybe once in a while, try being a normal girl. It'll probably make your love life a bit more interesting," said Kari in a teasing tone. Salamon was nestled in her arms.

As the vortex opened, the tamers gave one final goodbye to their friends. Ken looked back with a wide smile on his face. "Thanks for everything!! One more thing. Rika...Ryo says hi...if you can find a way to help him get back home from the Dark Ocean, it would mean a lot!!" He quickly vanished into the vortex.

Moments after the Digidestined had left, the tamers had split apart and there were six life forms residing in the battle field. "Nothing's ever going to be the same, huh?" Nobody could argue with Terriermon's statement. "Even though Imperialdramon has used one rift and stabilized it to become a portal...with all these other rifts around, you never know who may drop in uninvited," stated Henry in a grim tone.

"We can deal with it when it happens!! Let's just celebrate our victory!! I mean...we beat Lunarmillenniumon as well as a lot of other enemies, got our Digimon stronger, made some amazing new friends and gained some new weaponry with Grani and the Goliath cards...this just can't get any better!!" exclaimed Takato.

"And that would be my cue." Rika placed her arms around the boy's neck before kissing him on the lips. "Ah, I can see it now. In about six months to a year, they'll lose their virginities...in nine years, they'll be tying the knot and then going to a honeymoon to make more hot monkey love and then-" Henry clamped his hand over Terriermon's mouth.

She pulled back before leaning in to whisper something in his ear. "My hero," she purred softly. Takato chose this moment to faint with a dreamy look on his face. Guilmon looked at his tamer. "Hello? Are you okay, Takatomon?" Renamon gave a small chuckle. "By the way he looks, I would say he's better than okay. He's in heaven."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"You Digidestined fools cannot stop me!! I shall have both worlds bow down at my feet!!" Malomyotismon stood defiantly in front of the army of Digimon belonging to Digidestined children around the world. The children were with their partners. "You do realize that the digital world is my domain...I am invincible here!! HAHAHAHAHAHA-"

A brilliant flash of light cut him off as a vortex opened. "What do you suppose that is?" asked Sora. Six children walked out from the light. Malomyotismon gave a growl. "It does not matter whether there are six or six million children against me!! I will crush you all!!!"

Then another Digimon stepped out from behind the group with a powerful looking sword in front of him. The virus mega prepared to attack. "And who might you be? Just another Digimon for me to destroy?" Imperialdramon stepped out to face his enemy. "I'm the alarm clock for both worlds to wake up from your eternal nightmare!!" After yelling a battle cry, he charged into the fight with his Omega Sword raised high to deliver both worlds from evil.

THE END...FOR NOW