Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digimon Tamers: The Silver Lining ❯ "Breaking Point" ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: Digimon Tamers is owned by Bandai, Toei Animation, and Akiyoshi Hongo. Original characters are owned by me.

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Digimon Tamers

The Silver Lining

Chapter 06- "Breaking Point"

By Infinity Blade

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"The end?!" Rapidmon shouted to Chatsuramon. "What is that supposed to mean?!"

The dog Deva once more gave a deep chuckle. "You'll find out, soon enough… I will say, though, that it is here to remove the vile piece of the Sealed Demon that has made its way into this world. We have surrounded it, and soon, will obliterate it and everything its corrupt hand has touched!"

"Sealed… Demon?" Rapidmon questioned.

"Wait," Jenrya said, his voice suddenly filled with fear. "'Surrounded it'… 'everything it has touched'… oh no…"

"Jen?" the cyborg asked, looking back at his Tamer.

"The hospital!" Jenrya shouted. "They're going to attack the hospital! It's at the center of the five Digital Fields! Rapidmon, with everyone else in there, they may not know until it's too late… We've got to stop them!"

"Well, with bunny-boy out for now, we've got one down," Rapidmon said, watching as the dust cleared and Chatsuramon came into view. "And you're next!"

"I am, am I?" the Deva grinned.

"Jen, Shuichon! Get back!" Rapidmon shouted. His Tamer wasted no time in dragging his sister away, allowing the Perfect to focus his attentions completely on Chatsuramon. "HOMING MISSILE!"

A cluster of rockets fired out from either side of the pack on his back, curved around him, and headed straight for Chatsuramon. The dog Deva smiled and vanished from sight just before the missiles all struck the ground, blowing apart a significant chunk of the street and sidewalk. It also kicked up quite a bit of dust.

Chatsuramon reappeared in one of the few clear areas of the street. "Pathetic."

A look of surprise then crossed the dog's face; Rapidmon was nowhere to be found.

"RAPID FIRE!"

Two more rockets burst from out of the cloud of dust the Homing Missiles had created. One went quite far away from Chatsuramon, merely blowing up another part of the street. The other, however, flew straight into the Deva. The resulting explosion knocked him back into the side of a building, and he slumped down to the sidewalk. His armor was now damaged, and he had been given a reason not to grin any longer.

"H-how…" Chatsuramon snarled as Rapidmon flew out of the dust cloud, training his missile launchers on his enemy.

"Well, if you're asking how I got there so quickly," the cyborg said, sounding quite pleased with himself, "I'm not called Rapidmon for nothing."

Chatsuramon stared up at the floating Perfect, hatred filling his eyes. His look of intense anger was all too brief, however, as his smirk returned. "It is no matter… no matter how clever you think you are, you don't have the power to defeat Vikararamon… The Sealed Demon's corruption shall not grow!"

With those words, the dog Deva disappeared again. This time, however, he did not come back.

Giving a sigh of relief, Rapidmon floated back down to the ground to meet Jenrya and Shuichon as they ran up to him. "Rapidmon!" Jenrya shouted. "How did you…"

Rapidmon chuckled. "Oh, well, since he always vanished so much, I figured if I used the dust to my advantage, I could nail him with at least one hit."

"But… you couldn't see in that dust either…"

Rapidmon indicated the small crater that was made from the Rapid Fire missile that missed. "Yeah, well… I knew he was gonna want a clear shot at me, but with all this dust around, there were only a few places that he could have done that. So, I just tossed a couple of missiles where I thought he'd be… heck, if I had missed with both of them, he probably would have not moved and just laughed. I definitely would have known where he was then!"

Jenrya just stared at his partner digimon. "Wow."

The cyborg grinned beneath his mask. "Impressed?"

"Yeah, that you actually came up with something like that…"

"Thanks!" Rapidmon exclaimed, but then paused. "…I think… hey, wait a second!"

Jenrya began to snicker a bit, but Shuichon spoke before he could. "So… the bad doggy's gone…?"

"Yep!" Rapidmon replied. "All thanks to yours truly!"

"Of course, whether or not you can do the same to the others is another story," Jenrya sighed.

Shuichon paused and looked up at her brother. "What about the bunny?"

Jenrya, obviously clueless as to why she was asking that, blinked. "What about him…?"

"The bunny said he didn't wanna fight… but he got blasted…" she said, pointing to the building that Antiramon had plowed through, and where he probably still was. "Shouldn't you help him?"

Jenrya sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Listen, Shuichon… it's complicated."

"But Jen-niichan…"

"Shuichon," Jenrya said, his expression becoming stern. "Antiramon is an enemy, just like the other Devas. If we let them get their way, people will be hurt. None of them are our friends. We can't help him."

Shuichon stared at the ground. "He didn't wanna fight…"

Jenrya slapped his forehead. "Rapidmon… come on. We need to get going."

***

Ruki was most certainly not in a good position. Walls of energy on either end of the hallway blocked her off from her partner, Renamon. To make matters worse, now standing before her was the black cloaked, skull faced, demonic warrior Muertemon. His single, ruby eye illuminated the darkness of the hallway as his dark voice gave a low laugh.

"You got away from me last time," he said. "All of you slipped right through my fingers… because of my own stupidity. I made a mistake. I paid for that mistake… but it is time to try and make up for that now…"

Ruki barely paid attention to his words; she knew that whatever he was going to do, it wasn't good. Instead, she focused on trying to find a way out. She obviously couldn't get past him, so trying that would be just stupid. There had to be a way out of this situation, though… things couldn't just end this easily…

With barely a thought, Ruki bolted towards the only place she could; the room Shadramon had burst out from. She realized this wouldn't put her in any kind of better position, but it would give her more time to think… She just needed to think…

Yet inside the room, she immediately found herself stopping. She almost had to remind herself to breath again at the sight of the charred, burnt-out room. Due to the thick fog of the Digital Field, it was still very dark in here… but she could see that everything inside had been scorched by the Armored digimon. However, what had surprised her was something entirely different: In the corner, she could see that the floor had a hole burned through it. Unable to resist smiling, she dashed for the hole as fast as she could…

Unfortunately, Ruki was not fast enough. Before she had even reached it, black and red energy closed up over the hole, blocking her from the escape route. She skidded to a halt, staring at the newly formed barrier with disbelief. "N-no…"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid so."

Seeing a crimson glow being cast over the shadows, Ruki slowly turned back around the face the Soldier of Death. "What do you want with me…?"

Muertemon grinned. "Such a simple question with no simple answer…"

"Stay away," Ruki said, attempting to sound fierce but falling flat. "Or else-"

"Or else what, little girl?" Muertemon said with amusement. "You believe yourself to be so strong… that you have no weaknesses… that no one is above you… But all of that is merely a lie. You are not strong. You have oh so many weaknesses. You are below many, as well…"

"You're lying," Ruki replied sharply. She couldn't fight back against this thing, but she would not, could not show him fear. "I have-"

"Renamon," Muertemon interjected, his voice filled with disgust. "It all comes down to Renamon… You really are pathetic, you wretched little human. To think you have such power… to command her… You're wrong. You are merely deluding yourself… You have no power. Anything you think you have is only what you take from her!"

Ruki could almost feel the anger surging from his voice. What she saw made her even more nervous, however… Creeping along the wall towards her was the same dark energy that was keeping her from going anywhere.

"But that's all over now," Muertemon chuckled, and then waved a hand.

Suddenly, dark tendrils of power snapped out from the wall, grabbed her arms and legs. An uncontrollable scream escaped her mouth as she was pulled against the wall and held there. She struggled against her restraints, trying to tug or wiggle her way loose, but they held strong. Nothing she did could break through the power that held her…

"Yes, yes, go on ahead," he said gleefully. "Struggle all you like. It'll only make things easier for me in the end…"

Ruki stopped. She knew if she couldn't break free, she'd only tire herself out… She couldn't give him what he wanted… "Tell me what you're doing here."

"Ooh, demanding, aren't we?" he asked. "Tell me, Ruki… why do you think we are here? Why do you think I have set this situation up like I have? Go on, my dear, tell me… what is it you fear?"

Ruki took in her surroundings, contemplating his words, trying to figure out what he meant… she recalled everything that had happened … how everything had happened… where they were…

Then, realization suddenly hit her, and Muertemon smirked.

"Heh, heh… so you do understand. Excellent. That shall make things so much easier…"

Ruki glanced back at the demonic warrior. His tone seemed so confident, as if he had already conquered his goal. He thought that he was victorious…

The next sound heard was one that wiped the amused expression right off his face: The sound of Ruki laughing.

"You idiot," she chuckled. "Do you honestly think I'm going to cave in that easily? You may know more about me than I was expecting, but if you think something like just this place and you is going to make me break down… you're stupider than I thought."

Muertemon was silent. His usually amused expression was blank. He just stared at her with his single eye… which she could swear was starting to glow brighter by the second. Then, with no warning, one of his hands shot out from beneath his cloak, wrapping tightly around her neck.

"You stupid, insignificant, little insect!" he exclaimed, the anger in his voice somehow even greater than before. She could only watch him with wide eyes, gasping for breath as he grasped her throat. "Do you think you can laugh at the power of Lord Asmodeusmon so easily? I am going to break you, girl… I am going to shatter your confidence into itty, bitty pieces and leave you little more than a whimpering, huddled mass crying for your mother!"

Muertemon pulled away, and Ruki could feel more of the dark energy washing over her body. It felt… cold… everything was becoming blurry…

"With you out of the way, my path will be clear!" he shouted. "No one will be there to stand in my way, and I will show Renamon just what kind of mistake she has made!"

Everything around her was vanishing… she just couldn't hold on any longer… she couldn't stop her world from slipping into darkness…

*Rena… mon…*

***

Kenta followed behind Takato & Guilmon, making sure to keep a decent enough distance behind them. He didn't want to get in their way…

The boy wasn't normally one to worry about what others thought of him. However, something about what Takato had said before they went off to face Muertemon the day before had struck him… Just what was he doing, really? Even after finding out they were real, he had still been treating digimon like they were just a game. Yet this "game" had put his friends into a life or death situation…

*Takato was right… I would have just been in the way…*

So what was he doing here? He didn't have any special skills that would help them out. He wasn't a Tamer. So just why was he there?

*Besides being dead weight, that is…*

"Kenta?"

Kenta came to a halt, realizing the other boy and his digimon had done the same. Both of them were looking at him, as well.

"Are you alright?" Takato asked. "You've been kind of… quiet."

The green-haired boy stared at the floor. "It's… it's nothing, really."

Takato just gave a small sigh. "Listen… if it's about yesterday…"

Just then, a large noise caught their attention. Kenta's head jerked back up, immediately realizing the source of the sound. "That came from the hall Ruki and Renamon went down!"

Needing no further prompting, all three of them went running back to where they had come from.

***

Renamon bounced between the walls, ceiling, and floors to avoid Shadramon's numerous advances on her. She was being quite successful in this, but was becoming annoyed that she couldn't get a clear shot at the armored insect. She knew that this battle needed to be finished soon, as she recognized the energy wall blocking her off from her Tamer to be the same type of power Muertemon has used before…

The fox then felt… something. It was a quick flash in her mind, and she couldn't quite determine what it was, but she knew what it meant. This was not an unfamiliar feeling… she had felt it many times in the past… *Ruki's in trouble.*

Her momentary pause of concern enveloping every thought was just what Shadramon needed. The Armored digimon stopped in the air, thrusting its arms forward before unleashing a cry, "PSYCHIC WAVE!"

The scenery around Renamon seemed to ripple… and then she screamed. Clutching her head, the fox dropped to her knees, continuing to let out an intense, unending howl of pain. Her brain felt as if it were on fire, and she could concentrate on nothing. It was beyond anything she had ever felt before, anything she ever thought she could feel… Her paws swiped blindly around her, searching for something, anything to throw in the digimon's direction… Something to make it stop!

And then… it did stop. As Renamon's vision came back to her, she spotted Shadramon flying into the side of a wall. "What…"

"Renamon!" a familiar voice shouted, and she turned, discovering that all of her comrades had come to her aide. Takato, the one that had shouted her name, was there with Juri, Leomon, Hirokazu, Kenta, Culumon, and Guilmon. The reptile was hunched over, his eyes feral, so Renamon presumed he had been to one to blast her opponent.

Renamon rose back to her feet, looking back just in time to see Shadramon removing itself from the wall. She just crossed her arms and took aim. She had no time to waste on something like this. "FOX LEAF ARROWHEAD!"

There was nowhere to fly for safety for the Armored digimon as a large number of glowing leaves streaked through the air, piercing its armor in several areas. Shadramon barely even had the time to scream in pain before blowing apart into small, red fragments of data.

Renamon breathed heavily, her blue eyes watching the energy of the barrier in the hallway flowing back and forth. The black and crimson blockade was just like what Muertemon had used to protect the construction site the night before… and just what he had used to trap them. But once again, they had no choice but to bust through it… "Leomon," she snapped, "Guilmon. Give me a hand, we need to get through to the other side! Ruki's there."

"Um, Renamon," Juri said uneasily, "doesn't this look like the shield that-"

"Yes," Renamon said, "Muertemon is here as well. There's no doubt in my mind."

She was barely finished talking before both Guilmon and Leomon were at her side. Nothing needed to be said. They knew what had to be done.

"FIREBALL!"

"FOX LEAF ARROWHEAD!"

"FIST OF THE BEAST KING!"

***

*He didn't want to fight…*

Shuichon wasn't a stupid girl. She may have been young, but she understood more than those older than her generally expected. She had thought that she was a big girl, and could take care of herself… but after the last day, she was very thankful for the presence of those that wanted to protect her.

In the end, she was really still just a little girl… and after being put through the ordeal with Muertemon, there wasn't a moment that passed where she wasn't scared in some way. She constantly felt as if that demon was watching her. As if he could jump out at any second and take her away from her family again.

Two days before, if she had found out that Terriermon was real, she would have just been excited at the prospect of having someone to really play with her. With what had happened, though, that excitement wasn't there. She was just very thankful he was real. Because she knew if she could stay near Terriermon and her brother, she would be safe…

At that present moment, Rapidmon was flying through the sky with Shuichon and Jenrya on his back. They had no way to know where this 'Vikararamon' Chatsuramon had mentioned would appear, so they were heading towards the hospital.

"Shuichon," Jenrya said. The girl was presently trying her best not to look down as Rapidmon flew, just pressing her face against the cyborg's back. "Listen… I'm sorry."

Shuichon blinked and looked up at her older brother. "For what…?"

Jenrya gave a long sigh. "For bringing you into all of this… I promised Dad I would watch out for you. I knew the only way to do that was to keep you with me. Without even thinking, though, I brought you with us when the digimon sensed these Digital Fields. I didn't think the battle would be anything out of the ordinary, but I was wrong. With the danger here, I can't pull back… but now I'm putting you into even more jeopardy than you would be otherwise. After everything you went through yesterday… I was just stupid for bringing you with us. I don't know how much good it will do, but I just wanted to say I was sorry…"

Shuichon continued to look at him. His expression was pained… confused…

She gulped and looked down at the ground below. "I'm… I'm not scared…"

That was an outright lie, of course. She knew it, and she knew she wasn't supposed to tell lies. But she couldn't let her brother just beat himself up like he was. She didn't want him to be unhappy just because she was there.

"Both of you stop worrying," Rapidmon said, obviously seeing through Shuichon's fib. "Everything's gonna be just fine, so just quit it, okay?"

She smiled a bit. Everything would be fine… she didn't have to worry… Both Jenrya and Rapidmon would make sure everything was fine…

***

It would not be long now…

Muertemon stood still, silently watching Ruki as the darkness engulfed her. Through his single eye, he could see her now limp, just hanging there. Any kind of fight she could now be putting up would be only mental… and he was certain that wouldn't last long. Yes, it wouldn't take much more time… Soon, his job here would be done. He could be rid of this girl…

*Then there will be nothing she can do,* he thought. *Renamon will see her weakness, and my strength… She will understand… She will know I have my peace of mind, and that hers was merely a false illusion.*

His peace of mind… Yes. He knew what he was. He knew what his fate would be. In the world that would be created from the tasks he was carrying out, when the true order that would come into reality, he would have his place… And Renamon would…

"FIST OF THE BEAST KING!"

"FIREBALL!"

Muertemon had no time to react. Lost in his thoughts, he never saw the two attacks coming. Instead, Ruki vanished from sight as the flames plowed into him. His body was driven across the room, into and through a wall. His body fell to the ground with the rubble in the now-adjacent hospital room, and he took a few moments to try and regain his senses.

*Damn kids,* he thought. *They got in faster than I thought…I just have to stop them… keep them at bay for a short while longer. I have to give it time to complete.*

"ROCK BREAKER!"

Muertemon looked up as Guilmon came flying through the dust at him, his claws ablaze As the reptile neared him, he kicked up and struck Guilmon in the chest. The Child level digimon was tossed back, and Muertemon used the chance to bound to his feet. As he summoned his scythe into his hands, he remembered inwardly that he couldn't kill Guilmon just yet…

*Doesn't mean I can't hurt the little bastard, of course…*

Only able to really estimate where Guilmon now was in all of the dust and rubble, Muertemon swung his weapon. He did it in a way so that if he did get lucky and hit the reptile, he'd be struck with the flat part of the blade and not be torn in half. Instead, however, he found himself striking something else metallic.

It didn't take long for the dust to clear up enough for Muertemon see his blade locked with Leomon's. The skull-faced reaper grinned. "I see you're doing well."

Leomon just punched him in the face.

***

When one sees a tower of flame reach towards the sky, that's generally a good sign that something not-so-good is happening. Upon seeing this occur in the distance near the hospital, Rapidmon sped in his flight over the city.

"What the heck was that?!" Jenrya cried as they neared the area.

As if in response, something suddenly came flying up through a building below them. A large dragon with a monkey on its back. Rapidmon swerved out of the way to dodge the large digimon. Looking down, they all found the source of what had sent the Devas flying: A muscular, armored demon whose hands were glowing a bright red.

"Akumamon, you bastard!" the monkey cried as the dragon righted itself in the air. "You'll pay for that!"

After taking a few moments for his Digivice to actually get around to analyzing the Devas, Jenrya read off their information. "Majiramon… Makuramon…" He glanced down at the demon. "But… I can't get anything on him."

"Y'know, if you little brats know what's good for you, you'll just stay out of this!" Makuramon shouted at them.

*Why do the Devas want us to stay out of this fight so badly?*Jenrya wondered. *What's so important about us not fighting?*

"Now, now… we can't have that." Both parties looked back down to see Akumamon now standing on what was left of the building. He gave all of them a malicious smirk. "These children are very well entitled to be in this battle… I'm sure they can at least put up more of a fight than you filthy animals."

Makuramon snarled. "Who are you calling filthy, you lousy piece of gutter trash?!"

"Hey! Listen!" Jenrya screamed to the Devas. "This guy… is he another servant of the 'Sealed Demon'? Is that demon Asmodeusmon?"

Both of the Devas looked slightly startled at his usage of the name, but Akumamon just laughed. "Yes, boy… I am Lord Asmodeusmon's loyal servant. These filthy animals are just too weak willed to dare and even speak his name…"

"I told you-!" Makuramon began, but Jenrya cut him off.

"Then he's our enemy too!" the blue-haired boy exclaimed. "If we work together, then maybe we can-"

"Work with you?!" Makuramon asked. "What do you take yourself for?!"

"Makuramon," a deep voice suddenly rumbled from Majiramon's mouth. "Perhaps the child has a point…"

The monkey Deva's eyes widened. "Majiramon… what do you…"

"You know, while this is all very amusing," Akumamon said with mock-enthusiasm, his hands starting to burn red again, "I'm not about to stand idly by while you all figure out how you're going to try and defeat me. MAXIMUM FIRE!"

Both the dragon and cyborg dodged out of the way as quickly as possible when twin jets of fire shot out for them. Taking the chance, Rapidmon swooped down for the street and landed. After letting Jenrya and Shuichon off, he immediately began to rise up into the air once more. "Jen, you get somewhere safe with Shuichon!"

Then, as his partner took off into the air again, Jenrya scanned around the area. Fires were raging all over the place, pavement was torn up, and surrounding buildings had taken heavy damage. There were still a few police officers around, but for the most part they seemed to be hiding.

"…and just where would be a 'somewhere safe'?"

***

As Leomon and Guilmon pursued Muertemon, the others of that group focused on Ruki. The girl was still pinned to the wall by darkness, and her body was completely limp. "Ruki," Renamon spoke, but there was no response.

"What did he do to her…?" Hirokazu asked.

Suddenly, Ruki's eyes snapped open. However, they were completely blank and her body made no movement other than that. Almost immediately, they heard Muertemon laughing elsewhere, exclaiming, "IT'S DONE! YES!"

This was soon followed up by a scream of, "FIST OF THE BEAST KING!" The Tamers could then soon see Muertemon flying down the hallway being pushed along by a flaming lion head.

"Just what is done?" Takato muttered.

Takato knew that this just wasn't right. For Ruki to just be hanging there, lifeless… unable to fight, snap back at her enemy… It just wasn't natural. Whatever Muertemon had done, it just went against whatever was right… To put someone like her in a state like this was just unforgivable…

Renamon's eyes narrowed. "Everyone stand back."

The tone in her voice was one of warning. There was certainly no way the others could dare argue with her, so they did as told. Then, in a movement that their eyes could barely catch, Renamon's claws slashed the darkness surrounding Ruki. To their surprise, she actually cut through it, and Ruki's body fell forward. Renamon caught her… before suddenly slumping down to her knees.

"Renamon!" Takato exclaimed as they went over to her side.

"Are you okay, culu?" Culumon asked, hovering by Renamon's head.

"I am…" Renamon began, and blinked hard. "I am fine." The fox rose back to her feet, and began to carry Ruki towards the doorway. "We must get out of here as soon as possible. The longer we stay near these shadows, the harder it will be to pull Ruki back from them…"

Takato nodded. "Right, we'll just-" His words were cut off and his eyes widened. He suddenly felt like something was stabbing him through the shoulder. The pain was intense, and his mind seemed to block off everything around him for a moment. Instead, he was greeted with the sight of other things… They flashed before his eyes faster than he could track them, but a few things stood out to him… a black dragon… a scream… and…

"Takato-kun?!" Juri's voice drew him back to reality.

Takato blinked, and without any words, rushed out the door past Renamon. At the end of the hallway, he could see Guilmon laying up against a wall while Leomon clashed with Muertemon. Guilmon's right shoulder looked as if had been stabbed, and the data on that area of his body was fragmented.

"Guilmon," he murmured. He glanced back at the limp Ruki in Renamon's arms, and grit his teeth. It had barely even been twenty-four hours since their first encounter with Muertemon, and he was determined to tear their lives apart, it seemed… He was attempting to shatter what they knew, what was right… He jerked his head back to look at his partner, and drew out his Digivice and a card. "GUILMON!"

The reptile looked to his Tamer. "Takato…"

"Lets go!" Takato screamed, sending the card down the side of his device. "CARD SLASH! Super Evolution Plug-In S!"

"EVOLUTION_"

"Guilmon, EVOLVE! GROWMON!"

Leomon jumped out of the way as the space in the hallway vanished very quickly, and Growmon slammed a claw into Muertemon. The force sent the demon and dragon both through a wall and out of the building.

"CARD SLASH! White Wings!"

Dashing to the hole in the wall, Takato found now-winged Growmon floating next to it. "Takato?" the large dragon questioned, a worried expression on his face. "Are you okay…?"

"I'm fine!" Takato shouted, staring down at the street below them. Muertemon had made a good-sized crater with the impact of his fall, but Takato knew he probably wasn't hurt much. "We've got to stop him… now… before he hurts anyone else…"

Growmon just nodded, and after allowing Takato onto his back, flew down towards the ground. As they went, Takato could see Rapidmon fighting what looked to be another demon. To his surprise, he also saw Majiramon and Makuramon doing the same.

As Growmon landed, they saw that Muertemon was already back on his feet, just dusting himself off. "Geez, kid," Muertemon sighed. "Give a little warning next time!"

"Why?" Takato growled. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Oh, now that's a simple one," Muertemon chuckled. "Because it is the correct path."

Takato's eyes widened. "Correct… path? How could something like what you did to Ruki be correct?!"

Muertemon's ruby eye glinted. "She stands in my way, and in the way of Lord Asmodeusmon's goals. Now that I have the information from her mind that is needed, what's wrong with just leaving her as a mindless shell? She's of no use to anyone anymore. It's a good way to keep her out of the way until I get the chance to kill her, at least."

"You bastard!" Takato screamed. "How can you be so heartless?! How can you come in and just try to do these things to us?! For what reason?! How could any living creature make another want to suffer like you do?!"

"There's a key difference between you and I, Takato," Muertemon said. "You let the things you 'care' about get in your way. All I have is… things that I desire. So I have no choice but to work for my benefit. That is the true way of the world, be it the digital or human one. The way some human beings or digimon blind themselves with trifle things like justice, faith, hope, friendship, or love is just a mask to try and make themselves feel like their lives have meaning. Worth. That is all just some fantasy created by desperate minds. A façade. There is only one true meaning, one true purpose for anything. Power. To gain it. To enforce it.

"Digimon were created with this concept in mind. This correct path is programmed into their very data, and it is something that cannot be denied. No matter how much they attempt to deny it, that is the truth. It can't be fought. You should know this by now, Takato. And I'm sure you know it, Guilmon. It is your instinct. It is the instinct of all digimon.

"This world is corrupt. Filled with little more than pathetic humans hiding behind masks. Always expecting others to do things for them. To save them. Protect them. Provide for them. It makes me sick… Even worse, this mentality of hiding behind false masks has seeped into the Digital World, and is destroying it from the inside out. Just as it has happened to my world, so too will it happen to yours…

"This is the correct way. The only correct path. The path of Lord Asmodeusmon."

"You… you're wrong," Takato said. "This isn't correct… nothing about it is correct!"

Muertemon chuckled. "You're mad, aren't you Takato? You want to kill me, don't you? For what? Hurting those you care about? Or is it something… else?"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Takato muttered.

"That bloodlust hiding inside your heart," Muertemon grinned. "The more angry you get, the more it screams to come out. To slaughter what stands before you. To kill. Become stronger… and stronger… until you realize that is your true path."

"You're… you're wrong!" Takato replied.

"Am I?" Muertemon asked, and glanced around the area. There were several police officers hiding behind vehicles, Takato realized just then. They didn't seem to know what to do, but weren't willing to retreat. Muertemon raised a hand, and then shouted, "DAY OF THE DEAD!"

Several small skulls appeared all around him, and beams fired off from them. All at the police officers.

They never stood a chance.

Screams erupted all around them as the beams blew apart vehicles they were hiding behind, or just simply tore through the officers' bodies themselves. In just a matter of seconds, nothing was left living in the immediate area except Muertemon, Takato, and Growmon.

"You… you…" Growmon stammered, and then his eyes became slits. "You lousy…"

"Such frail creatures, human beings," Muertemon muttered, giving a mocking frown as he glanced around.

Takato ground his teeth together as he tried to keep from looking at the dead bodies littered around them. "They… how could you… they didn't do anything… they were just here to try and protect others… They didn't deserve anything like that…"

His breathing was becoming heavy and uneasy. His Digivice was also beginning to shine…

Akumamon suddenly dropped down beside Muertemon, launching a blast of flame into the air to keep his enemies at bay. "What are you-" the muscular demon stopped as he looked at Takato & Growmon. "…Muertemon, I think you pissed them off."

Muertemon just waved a hand. "Eh, they'll get over it."

"You," Takato snarled, "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"

Red light burst off Takato's body, and in an instant, Growmon was no more. In his place was an even larger, cybernetic dragon. Armor covered his chest, arms, and the lower-half of his head. And he looked even angrier than before, if that was possible.

Muertemon cackled. "Or, maybe not!"

"MegaloGrowmon!" Takato commanded. "ATTACK!"

-End Chapter 06

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Revision Notes: Besides Jenrya, Rapidmon, and Shuichon's little Deva detour and Akumamon's presence, readers of the original SL will notice I'm following along the same BASIC path of the original. I just think I'm doing a better job of it here.

Oh, and as I noted sometime in the original SL, I know that in the anime Majiramon is just a mindless beast. I prefer to try and give him some personality and not just be cannon fodder.

Next: Chapter 07 - "Vengeful Rampage"