Amidst the chaos, smoke and fleeing humans, Dorugamon soared out of the building, her wings carrying her and Ranamon up to the gaping hole where the blast most likely originated from. Though Ranamon's weight made swift flight somewhat challenging, Dorugamon seemed capable of navigating through the smoke with ease, yellow eyes homing on their destination. That said, there was still the fact that she was carrying another living Digimon with her, one who was as talkative as she was swift.

"Can't you fly faster?"

"If you went on a fucking diet before we came here, probably."

"Hey, that's so mean!"

"Too noisy; don't care."

Turning to her side, Ranamon spotted a dashing ball of light moving towards the hole as well, a familiar figure making his way up to most likely investigate the blast. A tug on her white mane made Dorugamon glance to where she was looking and what she saw made her growl with slight disdain. "Alright, what's the plan?" she asked.

"Well, it's not like we can hide for much longer. Might as well go up and find out what's going on and get him on the ball. Besides, Miss Zei did say that we have to keep her informed. She never said anything about being hidden, not that we can anymore anyway," Ranamon replied with a sigh, their original plan now completely derailed. "I hope she's doing better than we do, but I couldn't help but imagine how angry everyone would be if they find out what she's doing."

"Trust me: 'angry' is a complete understatement," Dorugamon replied with a deadpan tone, "especially if the person I have in mind is also in on this Tailmon-and-Chuumon game."

----

It was hard for Guilmon to not be overwhelmed by everything he's now seeing. It felt as if he's hallucinating, yet he knew he wasn't, and it fascinated him very much, from how different the Human World was to him and what constitute as food in said world to how their original plan was now being derailed faster than a running Locomon. Had it not been for their impending mission, he would had taken the time to sample and experience as much of the Human World as he could, but he was quite pleased to simply be able to learn about the strange world. He had nothing but gratitude for Siggy and Examon for taking him and Mirage in and was doing his utmost best to be of little trouble for his hosts, but he wasn't sure if there was anything he could do to help or whether or not he should be here to start with.

"I would assume that this isn't the plan you have in mind, Lord Siggy, Lord Examon?" he asked Siggy and MonoGigimon as he stood next to the chair the human was sitting on, watching his comrade soar to the skies. Unable to assume his true form, he knew well enough to stay back, but a part of him yearned to jump in as well, his knightly pride still strong inside the Rookie body. "Forgive me for my intrusion, but I can't help but feel a little bit lost."

Looking up, he then noticed something as well, a small dark purple and blue blur soaring through the smoke. That sight startled him, so much so that he had to move closer and squint his eyes just to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.

"And perhaps I've started hallucinating as well, but I could've sworn that I'm seeing Lady Alpha- I mean, Lady Dorugamon- and Lady Ranamon as well..."

"Elevator." Lucas said in a short, clipped tone as he picked up the briefcase holding Elecmon and pointed towards the other side of the room. As he and Leon piled in, Lucas slammed a finger into the 75th floor button, silently fuming at Dirk and Impmon. What the hell did they think they were doing? And for that matter, why the hell was everyone trying to misguidedly help with this? Dirk, Jordan, even Leon. It was great that he had friends that wanted to help him (and Jordan, for whatever fucking reason he had), but friendship went both ways. Would've been great if they had trusted him enough to let him handle this on his own.

As they reached the 75th floor, Lucas stepped out, motioning for Leon to follow behind him.

"No Biomerging unless we see an enemy Digimon. If you see Takeda, waste him. I don’t care how, just do it.” He said as they started to move forward...only to see Zei step out of a nearby service elevator. Lucas stopped for a moment, pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, and groaned.

“Alright, that’s the third fucking person who’s dropped in on a perfectly workable plan today. I’m done. Where the hell is Dorumon? Is she not even with you?” He scowled, moving forward and slotting the keycard he took off his father into a nearby reader, opening the door into a long, ornate hallway filled with Japanese wall scrolls and samurai armor models. “This puts us down one. Leon, stay back and guard Zei in case anyone comes across you two. You see anyone come, human or Digimon, Biomerge and take them down. Less risk to you that way. I’m going on ahead. If I’m not back in five minutes or you hear fighting, follow after and finish Takeda off.” He said, leaving without waiting for a response.

___

MirageGaogamon moved quickly through the wrecked top floor, noting to himself that it was empty besides himself and the shape he could make out through the smoke; this was going to make things easier.

The shape- Beelzemon, of course- was wading about, seemingly looking for something. Maybe somewhere he could descend lower into the building. Beneath his cowl, MirageGaogamon grit his teeth. He had to stop him before he made this even worse.

Beelzemon had been a pain when he’d been on the other side of the conflict, but dear god he was even worse when he was on the same side.

“Hold it-” He started off calm and steady towards the Demon Lord. As much as he would have liked to just club the moron over the head and drag him back to Siggy for a chewing-out, there was only so much power he could call on without causing a scene- if he went straight on the offensive to neutralize him, it would only make things worse. “Beelzemon, do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”

“Get the hell outta my way,” Beelzemon snarled, ignoring MirageGaogamon as he continued to stride forward.

MirageGaogamon repressed the overwhelming urge to snarl back.
He’d been just angry before, but now he was furious- first the idiot charged straight in on the plan without a regard for stealth or practicality, and now he had the gall to treat him like a nuisance?
A more impulsive individual might have just lost it there and let the Demon Lord have it. MirageGaogamon wasn’t quite so beholden to impulse; even as he held in a snarl, he kept talking levelly.

“I’ll ask you again. Do you have any idea what you’ve just done? Almost all of our planning just went up in smoke just like this building is. Your friends have this under control-”

“Screw you, asshole! I got this!” Beelzemon roared, extending his wings and dashing away.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” MirageGaogamon just about snapped as a large flash of light releasing itself from his body- as a long chain of light rushed out and wound itself around the Demon Lord’s leg.
“I don’t think so,” The Canine Knight growled, his composure crumbling as he was forced to enter his Burst Mode to even attempt to restrain Beelzemon, “Do you have any goddamn idea what could be hiding in this building? That Kimeramon could only be the half of it- the whole point of this operation was to get in, kill the human in charge of this all, and leave!”

If it wasn’t clear he was furious before, it was clear as day now- he’d been forced to go to Burst Mode after all, and he wasn’t even sure that was going to be any help for restraining a belligerent Demon Lord. That fury became even more evident when he gave the chain a powerful tug to drag Beelzemon towards him-

And Beelzemon responded in turn by whirling around to point his arm cannon in MirageGaogamon’s face.

“What, don’t you listen? I got this, idiot. Now lemme go or this goes up your ass.”

With his composure crumbling, it took a lot of willpower to not just slide-evolve to MagnaGarurumon and threaten the same with his own cannon- but MirageGaogamon held. He’d already gone to his Burst Mode, he’d just have to weather whatever Beelzemon threw at him for now. Besides, every moment he kept the Demon Lord occupied was another moment he bought Lucas to get in and finish Takeda, so his efforts were hardly wasted yet.

“Try me,” He finally snarled, his eyes filling with a disturbingly primal fury as he glared at Beelzemon, “I faced down Imperialdramon, do you really think a little shit like you intimidates me at all?!”

“Yeah? Well, ya know something?” Beelzemon snarled as energy began to gather in his arm cannon. ”So did I.” And he fired the Corona Blaster. The blast was left deliberately underpowered: enough to wound MirageGaogamon, certainly, but nothing near fatal.

MirageGaogamon intuited as much; holding onto the chain, there was a rush of air as he flashed out of the broken wall of the 75th floor to dodge the attack, dragging the struggling Beelzemon along with him. The Corona Blaster wasn’t fast enough to get within a few meters of him-

But then he saw who it was on course to hit, and his breath caught in his throat.

“Shit!” He snapped, as he saw the distinctive shape of Dorugamon move into the trajectory of the Corona Blaster, with another figure on her back; even with how underpowered it was, an attack like that would be nothing but bad news for the two Digimon.

Without even thinking, MirageGaogamon dived between the attack and the two lower-levelled Digimon; he was only conscious of the fact that he’d let go of Beelzemon when he found himself flying backwards with the chain dispersed back into an aura of light energy as he felt his body burn from the attack.

And without another word, Beelzemon turned back towards the building and dashed back inside, disappearing from MirageGaogamon’s sight.

“Son of a bitch…” He grumbled to himself as he watched the Demon Lord escape back into the building. All he could hope for now was that his intervention had bought Lucas the time he needed to get to Takeda- going after Beelzemon now was just going to make things worse.

“Are you two alright?” He asked, his voice slurred from the pain of the attack as he floated towards Dorugamon and Ranamon; he didn’t even seem angry at their appearance, just resigned and concerned.

While Zei was no genius, she could see how upset Lucas was at seeing her and why he would be so upset. She could hardly blame him; even a part of her thought that this was a very foolhardy idea at best. That said, though surprised at first, she didn't seem deterred, the Japanese woman no longer possessing the meek streak she used to have before meeting him and Lucas. "Dorumon was handling something. We simply acted on our own plan," she replied, her voice showing no hesitation or fear, not even towards Lucas. In fact, she sounded more defiant than anything as she looked straight at him for a short while before following him.

However, there was something unmistakably off about Zei. There was something faint in her, something fragile and already at its tipping point, that threatened to crack. It was still holding out for now, but it would only take a straw on the camel’s back to break it, the question being what that straw would be.

And then he told Leon to stay back with her without even asking her.

Lucas and Leon were her friends and allies. It's clear the former had the best intention in mind when telling the latter to watch over her, but the fact that he instantly pegged her as being weak and helpless didn't sit well for her. It never sat well for her in the past, but even moreso now after everything she had gone through. She knew well that she wouldn't be able to fight against a Digimon and she calmly acquiesced to that point, but then she remembered that both men had never actually seen her fight against any human, for that matter, and she quickly calmed down after putting everything into context and perspective. She thought of just subduing Leon to go after Lucas, but it was a last resort that she didn’t want to take.

___

Dorugamon had always considered her luck to be somewhere down the drain. Even back before she met Zei, she had gone through so much danger that it no longer fazed her. Being in the Human World and then finding out that she was actually a proxy- a false identity- to another Digimon, a Royal Knight to boot, nearly made her resign to her status as a misfortune magnet. Even she found it surprising that she was still able to persevere, though she was left quite dour as a result.

Hovering and looking at MirageGaogamon, injured, but alive and would most likely pull through, she didn’t seem angry or upset. She believed that she could easily dodge that attack had he not chosen to take Beelzemon’s attack, but then she couldn’t guarantee Ranamon’s safety and, after putting that consideration into mind, Dorugamon found herself quite thankful for his intervention, that gratitude visible in her gaze. It did help that Mirage didn’t seem to be that upset about seeing them.

“We’ll live,” Dorugamon replied to his inquiry, her voice flat and tired and her tone somewhat dull. All she wanted to do was scout and then rejoin Zei, but things seemed to go south before she could open her mouth. At least Ranamon was with her and she was quickly on the ball with smoothing things between her and MirageGaogamon.

“What about you? That blast must’ve hurt,” the blue Digimon asked back, looking very much concerned for the former Knight’s well-being, then surveyed the damage and put two-and-two together. “So that explosion must’ve been Beelzemon, huh? Was he always this brash?”

“Don’t even get me started,” Dorugamon growled, sharing the same frustration the Mega had for him. At least she, Ranamon and Zei had the foresight to try and be stealthy, keyword being try.

Beelzemon crashed through the wall of Masashi Takeda’s private office, looking upon an old, wizened Japanese man sitting at his desk. With a roar, he leveled his cannon at the man…and fell to his knees in agony as four cylindrical devices emerged in the corners of the room, glowing bright yellow. After a few seconds, Beelzemon himself began glowing white, devolving slowly back into Dirk and Impmon. The lights in the office shut off for a moment before emergency power kicked in, illuminating the room in a dim glow as the four devices in the room shut off as well, smoke wafting out of each one.

“Wh-what the hell?” Dirk gasped, panting for air as he tried to recover from the sheer agony he’d just felt.

“Come now, did you really think I wasn’t prepared for this?” Takeda smiled, rising from his seat as he walked up to Dirk. “After the girl disappeared, I had no hold left on BlackWarGreymon. To be honest, I’m surprised he’s not here right now instead of you. Tell me, did you like it? It’s called the Digivice Wave Inhibitor. Blocks signals from that infernal gadget of yours and reverses your evolutions. It also took the entire building’s power to activate in just one room, but I rather prefer that to death.” Takeda turned away, taking a katana mounted on the wall and unsheathing it.

“And speaking of, here comes yours, Western trash.” He swung the blade, taking the exhausted Dirk’s head off.

___

Lucas entered the doorway, sliding his keycard into the final reader, and flung the door open only to see Dirk’s head fall off his shoulders. He gaped for a moment, not comprehending what he was seeing before it finally registered. Takeda just killed Dirk.

“BASTARD!” Lucas roared, drawing his pistol and leveling it at Takeda, only to be knocked back as Kimeramon crashed down into the office from the roof.

“Don’t speak to me of bastards, boy, considering that you’re Hideki’s.” Takeda frowned, flicking Dirk’s blood off his sword before he turned away.

“I’m going to rip your fucking head off!” Lucas roared as he pulled his Digivice out and set his briefcase down with Elecmon emerging from it.

Biomerge activate.

BanchoLeomon snarled in fury as he prepared to charge at Kimeramon, only to be interrupted by the sound of rasping steel.

“I wouldn’t advise doing that.” Takeda said as he pointed his sword at Impmon’s kneeling form. After watching his partner die, the Rookie seemed to be nearly catatonic, not even reacting as Takeda put his katana in front of Impmon’s throat. “Unless you’d like to lose two friends today, instead of just one.”

BanchoLeomon paused and opened his mouth, but was cut off as Impmon began laughing, glowing in a sickly yellow aura.

“I...remember now.” He giggled, causing Takeda to unconsciously back away. “Everything that happened to me before. That fucking asshat sealed my memories and my Crest away, saying something about a second chance. Too bad for him that whatever fake personality he put in me just fucking up and croaked!” He cackled as the aura rising around him reached a crescendo.

“Impmon warp evolve to...BEELZEMON!”

And just like he had months ago, an insane Beelzemon emerged, Berejena shotguns in hand. Only this time, there was a yellow crest upon his brow.

“I am Beelzemon, Demon Lord of Gluttony!” He bellowed as Takeda scowled, backing away as he hit a button on his desk. A section of the wall behind him opened up, and he quickly scurried into his panic room, leaving a three-way standoff in the now-ruined office.

“Fuck!” BanchoLeomon shook in rage as Takeda got away, looking between both Kimeramon and Beelzemon. “Leon, Veemon!” He roared back behind him, voice echoing through the long hallway. “Biomerge and get your asses up here now! Zei, get Dorumon from whereever the hell she is already!”

Elle and Mistymon sprinted down the road, dodging people who were running away from the duo's objective, and tried to think about what was happening, she might be entirely used to things exploding but it wasn't really normal in the real world. Terrorists? Digimon? What could it possibly be? With a glance upwards, Elle noticed the smoke and a hole in the side of the building, way up in the air, causing her to stop for a moment and catch her breath. She shared a look with Mistymon as she breathed heavily.

"Well?" She asked, causing her partner to squint as he looked up at the building.

"I have several ideas, none of them good."

"They never are. We could Biomerge and take the short route or we take the elevator." Elle suggested while Mistymon thought about each choice things were getting worse, whatever it was, it was serious. Elle now saw light from the building, not a regular light either. Finally Mistymon shook his head.

"No, we don't know what this is, I look fairly inconspicuous like this, bar the sword. I say we take the stairs, that's the safest bet." Elle nodded, it made sense, the elevator could break down or be damaged and they didn't want to jump into a warzone from an open blast point.

"Okay, lets go then, but be ready to biomerge if shit goes downhill." Elle said as she started off

"I'll have to de-digivolve for that but we'll work it out I'm sure" Mistymon replied, grinning as he ran after her.

They entered the building quickly and felt several more explosions as they sprinted up the stairs as quickly as they could. She several floors up before she was out of breath, and ten more before she had to slow down. after that she took it slower yet still at a fairly quick pace. Near the top, Elle was very weary, her legs shaking, she was unsure if she could biomerge in this state. Maybe it would have been better to fly up after all? They had almost reached the top of the stairwell just as the lights went out.

"The fuck was that?" Mistymon asked no one in particular

"Let's... Let's go find out." Elle replied, out of breath and reaching for the door that she knew was right in front of her instead of trying to climb the last couple of stairs. She pulled out her phone, noticing the message as she used the light to guide her hand to the doorknob.

"Here we go" She took few seconds to catch her breath and pushed open the door as fast as she could, to find an empty room, also dark but it was lucky it was still daytime. "Next floor then" She grumbled but leaned against the wall for a couple of moments before the pair heard someone shout from down the corridor. they didn't hear the words, only the sense of urgency. She stood up and moved along the corridor, looking around and seeing Zei and Leon, the latter looking really good in a suit. But why were they there? "Leon? Zei? What... what the fuck is.. going on here?" she asked, entirely confused and slightly out of breath, though her partner was faring much better.

After Leon and the other left, Jordan waited a moment, then left the station and followed after. He was trying to avoid looking associated with them for the moment, but, unfortunately, anyone who would have seen the gathering would have found that unlikely.

He had waited in the shadow of the building for some time. Jordan had never intended to intervene directly in their actions. He simply wished to obliterate the horrid construct this man had made and wipe all evidence of it from the face of the earth. Togarimon, having since Digivolved to Shrewmon, was posing as a shaggy dog, as his partner felt mildly irked. These newbloods, or at least the one who had met Leon- he still hadn't caught his name- seemed to think that he could pull off a foolproof plan by himself, when just a matter of weeks ago, or months depending, he had been wholly ignorant to the existence of Digital Monsters and the terror they could wright. As he was lost in his thoughts, he barely had time to react when he felt a familiar signature appear far above. Then a black, smokey explosion shook the building. Jordan shielded his eyes, as he had been looking up, as fragments of glass rained down.
Luckily none of the falling glass hit him, even though he reflexively checked himself and his Digimon for splinters. The next few moments went by rather fast. Other Digimon seemed to appear, one seeming to clash with the first, before that one vanished. He heard the sounds of hurrying, then turned to see... a girl with a Mystimon? Yes, he had seen them in the Digital World, and they were headed into the building.
Then, a Digimon with an aura like burning rageful lightning appearec, before being overshadowed be one with an acrid, foul feeling that almost made him vomit.

It only took a moment for the hidden pendant around Jordan's neck to shine out green, causing Shrewmon to be enveloped in a shifting light, shimmering purple as it spread.
"Shrewmon, Warp Digivolve to...Nocturnamon!
Jordan shouldered his bag, coming astride the pale bat beast as a shadow which looked as a fury long repressed seemed to gather agound him. Swiftly the Ultimate Digimon rose, flapping his wings and grabbing onto the concrete ledges of the adjacent building to gain momentum and lift. Well aware that entering the hole caused by the explosion would be doubly foolish, Jordan directed Nocturnomon to fly near the window.
"Night Echo!" the Alabaster Bat shouted as an electric wavelength burst through the building.
While they knew it would alert all Digimon on that floor of their location, it would also serve as a way to open communication with those who wielded Digivices inside.
"All able-bodied, he called into his worn Digivice with an unusually authoritative tone, hoping the modified Echolocation attack had succeeded in acting as a frequency tuner, "What is your position? I repeat: What's the situation in there?"

With Elle, Mistymon, Leon and Veemon rushing into the room and BanchoLeomon roaring at her to call for her partner, Zei felt a sinking feeling inside her chest, a voice in her head pleading to her not to go in. Yet, she disregarded that voice and rushed in as well…

… and quickly wished she had listened to it.

The monstrous Kimeramon was the least of Zei’s fears. BanchoLeomon’s frustration and fury was palpable, but they barely registered to her. Not even the manic Beelzemon seemed to faze her. No. The first sight her brown eyes homed in to was the sight of Dirk’s headless body, very much limp and very much dead.

In that moment, a loud snap reverberated in her mind.

----

The Japanese woman remained silent even as the battle began to rage, unmoving and still with her eyes cast towards the floor beneath her feet. It was as if nothing was controlling her body. She wasn’t even responding to the call from her Digivice, asking if anyone was alive to answer him. Her arms limp for a moment, she then silently dropped the backpack she was carrying and pulled out her Digivice and, scarily enough, a sharpened Iaitō blade, taking the weapon from its sheath. Whatever restraints, doubts or considerations she had had completely vanished into thin air.

Unflinching in her movements, Zei suddenly broke into a mad dash towards the panic room. Kimeramon swiped at her in an attempt to stop her, but she easily vaulted over the savage Digimon’s claw like a soaring heron, her pace unbroken and her gaze hard as her steel Iaitō as she ran into the panic room.

What BanchoLeomon and ally were seeing now wasn’t Zei, at least not the same Zei they had known to that day. What they were seeing was another monster entirely.

___

Masashi Takeda looked up from where he sat in his panic room, hand reaching for his katana as he saw a familiar girl rush inside.

“You...I remember you. Yasuragi-san, if I remember correctly. I take it you object to me killing your friend?”

Zei stopped, her iaitō still in her grip. Her brown eyes, previously lustrous and youthful, had lost much of its luster, replaced by a cold, unsettling glint. Looking at the old man who had just executed her friend, she asked him, her voice barely above a whisper, “Takeda-san, may I ask why?”

“The boy clearly intended to kill me. Why should I be condemned for defending myself?” Takeda said cooly, rising from his seat. “Am I to understand that I shouldn’t punish a murderer?”

“... I can’t judge you for fearing for your own life. We’ve all felt the same way,” she replied, her voice devoid of emotions. “However, even when you have all the power in your grasp, you chose to take a life.”

“Hm. You speak of power?” Takeda sneered. “I’m not the one who can turn into a weapon of mass destruction at a moment’s notice. And even ignoring your pets, we have your friend, my vice-president’s bastard son, he came at me with the intent to kill. And look at yourself. A sharpened practice blade? You and your friends hold just as much power as I do. Perhaps more, now that I’ve lost BlackWarGreymon.”

“I’ve come here to speak to you, Takeda-san.” Zei pulled her weapon to the side as she slowly approached him. “When I first met you, I remembered how weak you were. I did my best to help, however little I could do back then. I didn’t seek to take a life today. I hoped that we could settle this conflict without bloodshed, but...” Looking at the iaito, she then added, “This is supposed to be a ceremonial blade, nothing more than a decorative item. I’ve only taken it with me in case I truly have to defend myself. Yet, with your blood, perhaps that may change…”

“Will it?” He asked rhetorically, turning away from her to punch in a series of inputs into the keypad on his desk. “All of my contingencies are now in place. Even should you kill me, it will not stop what is to come. I may not be able to bring my dreams to fruition, but you will all die alongside me. Backup copies of my research team’s data have been sent out. We will not lose what we have accomplished.”

Takeda pulled out a phone, speed dialing a number. “It’s time. Release the backup project.” He set the phone down, looking at Zei. “Well, Yasuragi-san? What will you do now? I assure you I am not bluffing.” He stepped in front of her, sitting seiza-style. “Kill me if you wish.”

Numerous gears began turning at a frenetic pace inside Zei’s mind as she lifted her hand, the sharp edge of the blade ready to dive through Takeda’s suit and sever his blood veins. This was what she came here for, wasn’t it? Their target was now sitting here, welcoming his death after making them all dance to his tune. In one single movement, they would had one less trouble to worry about.

Taking a deep breath, Zei closed her eyes…

… and pulled the blade away.

“Takeda-san… You’re right; I can’t kill you,” she paused. “I won’t kill you; that’s not what I came here for. Perhaps it’s because of what I’ve done in the past for you and I doubt you remember it today, but I’m not a woman without honor, unfortunately. Maybe there’s still a heart remaining in me after all.”

Though she stepped away from him, she kept her gaze onto the old man. “To kill you is to absolve you of your responsibility. Letting you live would be the worst thing I could do to you. Instead, we will destroy everything you worked for. Every data, every system, every amalgamation you have created, we will wipe out every single one of them. No matter how many contingencies you have set in our way, we will triumph and everything you have accomplished will perish.”

“Even if I have to become an avatar of “Destruction”, even if I have to become a demon myself, as long as we can stop this madness, I will gladly play that role to support my human and Digimon friends, those who stand and fight alongside me as an equal.” Turning away with the blade still in her hand, Zei shot him something of a gaze of pity. “That resolve is something you will never understand.”

Takeda closed his eyes, nodding. “Very well. Do what you wish, and I shall do the same. I would wish you good fortune in life, Yasuragi-san.”

Zei stopped for a moment, the splintered parts of her fighting over whether she should had left Takeda alive, but in those scattered thoughts, one single desire united them all together and it allowed to finally move once more with a resolve she previously didn’t have.

A broken bird, an unbound beast given form.

And nothing seemed to be holding her back now, the very last thread of her sanity fading away into the bloody darkness.

BanchoLeomon unflinchingly stared down both Kimeramon and Beelzemon in the ruins of Takeda's executive office, narrowing his eyes.

"Guys, Biomerging now would be great. Seriously. Dirk's dead, Beelzemon's completely lost his shit, and Kimeramon-URK!" He started to say, only to be cut off by Beelzemon rushing him, pushing him back until both Megas fell out of a window, plummetting towards the ground below.

"The hell are you doing?" BanchoLeomon screamed in fury as he strugged against Beelzemon's grip while the two fell.

"I just woke up, pal. And I'm fucking hungry." Beezlemon sneered from his dominant position on top of BanchoLeomon as they drew ever closer to the ground.

BanchoLeomon snarled in frustration as he drove his knee up into Beelzemon's gut, stunning the Demon Lord long enough for the lion Digimon to reach up and whirl him around just before they hit the ground, slamming Beelzemon into the middle of a busy Tokyo street to break his fall.

As Beelzemon rose with a groan, seeming barely damaged despite the fall, BanchoLeomon scowled.

"...You're really not the same Impmon we've been fighting with all these months, are you?" He asked rhetorically, already knowing and fearing the answer.

"What are you, stupid? I already told you that!" Beelzemon laughed, brandishing his claws as he and BanchoLeomon advanced on each other. "Now come on! I'm gonna feed on every last bit of your data!" He cackled as he drew his Berejena shotguns and took aim.

"Fine." BanchoLeomon grit his teeth and drew his sword. "If that's the case, then I've got no reason to hold back." He said, charging at Beelzemon.

___

Back at the Tokugawa Heavy Industries complex, a roar reverbrated throughout the building as it started to shake, with the quakes increasing in intensity until a Machinedramon literally burst out of the floor, tearing Kimeramon in half with its claw as it rose. The Machinedramon didn't stop its ascent even as Kimeramon burst into data, loading the artificial Digimon as it crashed through the ceiling of the office, rising straight to the sky above the roof of the building. Bits of Kimeramon's data swarmed around the mechanical Mega as it eagerly devoured them, culminating in a flash of light as every last piece of data was loaded.

"Machinedramon DNA evolve to...MILLENNIUMMON!"

And an abomination descended upon Tokyo.

As they got up to the next floor Leon drew a small knife from inside his pocket. He didn't have many modern weapons in his house so he took the only one that was compact enough to bring up. When Zei stepped out of the elevator next to theirs the knife slipped out of his hand as his mouth hung open for half a second. Then Lucas' rage, either from the continued assistance from their comrades or the talk with his dad, finally hit Leon enough to knock him back to earth as Lucas began to run down the hallway.

"Zei, don't you think you could have at least told us? Why don't you even have your partnet with you? That's such a bad idea!" Leon asked. He didn't mind the plan of staying back for the moment. Covering the door was probably a smart move anyways. Taking out his digivice Leon readied it in case he and Veemon needed to merge. Then a voice came out of it. "J-jordan? How the hell are you-"

Behind him Leon heard more crashing and the entire floor shook again. All at once multiple things happened: Elle came into the room with Mistymon, Jordan's voice spoke out on the phone, and Zei rushed down the hall. Not far down the hallway he heard a great roar from BanchoLeomon and knew what needed to be done. With a growl Leon yelled out to Elle, Jordan and Veemon at once. "Biomerge, NOW!" he said before bolting towards the fight. As he ran down the hallway Leon felt the briefcase vibrate as the digivice became enveloped in light. With a long jump in the air Leon felt the familiar fusion of himself and Veemon.
Biomerge Activate

As he came into the room where the other Megas were fighting only moments ago to see only two horrors: a newly revived Kimeramon and the decapitated body of Dirk. And in that moment all the momentum drained from Leon's and Veemon's will. The Royal Knight, UlfroceVeedramon itself, still had the will to fight and pushed them towards the Kimeramon.

Only to be beaten to the punch by a Machinedramon thrashing straight through the floor. As the mecha digimon sliced through the beast hybrid the two titans rose up and out the building, beginning to collapse it from within.

Th-the building. It's going to collapse on every... everyone Leon's mental segment thought, quick visions of Dirk's body flowing through their mental link.

We need to finish off Kimeramon! It's heading out the building right now with the Machinedramon. We need to take care of them now! the Blue Knights consciousness butted in, willing the physical form of himself towards the large hole in the roof the was beginning to fall. Just in time to see the dark energy the formed around the new entity that was digivolving above them.

The people below... they aren't evil. They're just doing their daily jobs. We can stop this building from imploding, can't we? Veemon thought, joining his mind with the other two. Just let us do this one thing and we can... continue the fight. We swear it.

The torn will of the minds inside UlforceVeedramon's body began to shift together again. With their combined push UlforceVeedramon dove towards the floor of the office, looking around the room for any danger. Then their eyes shifted to Dirk's fallen form. Walking over to the body UlforceVeedramon took a knee next to him.

"We... we will bury you when it's all said and done Dirk. When we kill this final monstrosity. When we save the city. We'll remember you and everything you did for us. I... We swear it," UlforceVeedramon said. Remaining still for a moment a great cry from the beast Millenniumon above rocked the Blue Knight to his core. As the debris began to fall more frequently he angled his chest towards the sky, along with both of the V-Bracelets. A blue aura began to form around the armbands and the chest plate.

"We'll kill you. If there's a way we're going to find it. Royal Knights and loyal friends don't break vows easily, filth." The cyan light filled what was left of the room as the roof gave out. "Trinity Ray of Victory!" UlforceVeedramon roared, three wide-angled rays shooting out with enormous amounts of energy towards the roof, disintegrating the falling wreckage. It was slow at first, but the momentum built up and went straight through the matter, leaving no roof and a cool wind whipping up on the top level. UlforceVeedramon relaxed his arms, looked down at the body next to him one last time, then took off to the sky. Brandishing his blades from both bracelets he bolted in a blue blur behind the beast. "Battle... begun."

Elle was entirely bewildered, she heard what Leon said and felt the explosions around herself, the screams. So much fighting. Wizardmon felt a great power become unearthed, destroyed and combined. There was something insanely powerful right beside them, only just unseen. He looked to Elle, sure she would fight, would help defend the city but when will the fighting finally end? Elle saw his look and gave him a humourless smile and with a quick shake of her head and the sight of Leon's biodigivolution she nodded to Mistymon

"Here we go again, old friend, one last time?" She asked

"I hope so" replied Mistymon, and with a small grin in return. He recognised the girl's determination, she had indeed grown up, she was still naive and young but she'd matured some. No matter how much she wanted to just have a normal life, he doubted they ever truly would have one but here was a good chance to start one after this was over. Maybe she would finally go on a damn date with Leon, if they all survived this, that was.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!" Yelled Elle, and she felt her digivice glow with an orange light, spreading to herself and her digimon, combining the two of them together into one consciousness.

Dynasmon grew to his full height and blasted out of the building as he saw his comrades already engaged in battle with a massive digimon, one that really shouldn't be able to exist, a monstrous combination of many different digimon fused finally with Machinedramon. Millenummon.

"Okay, here we go again." Dynasmon sighed to himself, flying into the air and readying himself. To take down this beast he would probably have to use his strongest attack, a great peril to all near and himself, after all it was an almost sentient attack that drained all of his power. He hoped he wouldn't have to though, there was a great many of them all able to make mega, and even Dirk would be able to help. Where was he anyway? Dynasmon couldn't see him at all. Then he spotted Beelzemon, he looked different, wrong. That and he was facing off against BanchoLeomon. Something was very wrong.

He couldn't focus on them for long though, he looked straight to Milleniummon and gathered his power "Dragon's Roar!" He said, aiming his attacks to spread out across it's body in an attempt to cause damage in as wide of an area as possible, and firing as many of said blasts as he could without sacrificing their strength.

For a moment, Jordan waited, hearing only the wing beats of Nocturnomon. An explosive shattering sound rang out as two figures, one of raging fury, and the other of disturbing obsession, plummeted to the ground. Fighting the urge to charge in, Jordan kept his composure, only to hear a rather frantic response from Leon. A rapid swish of the arm brought the Digivice back to Jordan's face.
"What's going on in there!" he called, only for a ground shattering rumble to answer his thoughts.

The floor crumbled as two ravenous forces combined, the metalloid dragon's body vaporizing as it destroyed the other's, which reconstructed beneath the ionized cloak in darker colors. As a rush of energized wind scattered the debris, preventing the building from collapsing more completely, the horrid form of Milleniummon was revealed, descending towards the streets. Jordan's fist clenched unearthly tightly, nearly drawing blood as a storm of shadow seemed to mire around him. With little more than a nod, Jordan placed his hand into the bag he carried, and lunged forward, leaping as the great Bat Digimon rushed past the building, landing in the open floor as Nocturnomon flew off.

Soon a slight flutter of mammalian wings appeared from behind Dynasmon.
"Get me a clear shot," Nocturnomon declared urgently as he darted over the dragon Knight and soared towards the eyes of the beast "Sleeping Eye!" he called as a beam of somnant energy shot towards the beast's face.
He knew alone that he couldn't fight this, but maybe, if he could falter Millenniummon for but a moment, it could provide an opening and allow the others to deal greater damage.

Within the dusty wreckage of the building, Jordan searched about, eyes blurred, trying to find out how this could happen. From around a shattered wall, he saw someone he didn't quite recognize. Their back was turned to him, and he approached silently, jaw clenching and releasing as he did.
"Who did this..." he asked, his voice barely above a whisper as his grip within the bag tightened.

“... Shit, it can’t be-” Siggy said with his jaw agape to Guilmon as he looked up to see who had strayed into the line of fire- it barely even registered with him that MirageGaogamon had failed to retrieve Beelzemon until several moments after the fact, when he saw the wounded Knight talk to the Champion-levels he had saved.

“Don’t panic, it’s still under control-” MonoGigimon’s words fell on deaf ears, as he felt a sudden surge of fear shoot over the emotional wavelength and send it into chaos. For his part, he was hardly better- the sight of Dorugamon on the scene was filling him with his own dread, and so was the sight of his wounded friend.

“Look, I can contact Mirage via the Hazard,” He said, in an attempt to bring things under control- “I can’t believe I’m the one saying this, of all people, but Lucas and the others have it and we’re just going to make things worse if we go barging in.”

“Alrightalrightalright,” Siggy replied, every word shooting out of his mouth as quick as his panic-addled brain could fire them. It was under control, it was under control-
_____
‘Take control of the situation,’- That was what bought MirageGaogamon back to attention. He’d zoned out from the pain after he’d questioned the two Champions he’d helped out- now he was aware of his new role as well as the replies he’d gotten.

“Nothing I’m not used to, don’t worry.” As bad as it was, it wasn’t going to slow him down once his body’s response kicked in. He ignored the back and forth between the two about Beelzemon- it really didn’t matter anymore.

“Where’s your Tamer?” Right to the point. “Is she in the building?”

“She’s supposed to be in the building, but at this point I don’t-”

All it took was a loud snapping noise to snap Dorugamon out of her tired state. A clear sound of something breaking apart, it seemed. She wasn’t entirely sure what she had just heard and there was nothing around them that could had made that kind of noise. From the looks of it, it could be all in her head too as Ranamon looked at a startled Dorugamon with concern written all over her face.

“Dorugamon? Is everything alright?” Her partner tried patting her neck to help calm her down, seeing the maelstrom of emotions in her contracting golden eyes.

“Zei… Something happened to her…” She didn’t even know how she managed to come to that conclusion. After all, neither of them had any form of telekinetic link, not that she wanted to anyway- she liked having her unvoiced thoughts to herself. However, ever since she noticed Zei’s state of mind, there was a part of her that seemed to be keeping an eye on her no matter how far apart they were physically. Perhaps it was because of that that she heard what she heard.

“What happened?! Is she injured? Is she…”

“No… I think,” Gritting her teeth, Dorugamon lowered her head in shame. “She’s completely lost it.”

“Oh dear…” Was all MirageGaogamon managed to verbalize as he listened to Dorugamon’s reply. He made a split-second decision, and quickly acted on it.

‘It’s under control, don’t worry,’ He fired back over the mental link to MonoGigimon. On a better day, he’d have felt some shame for this- but this was most certainly not a good day. Others approached bad days by rising above them, he approached them by cutting through them without remorse.

“I’m not going to get angry for you intruding on the plan,” He began to say to Dorugamon and Ranamon- “But I will ask that you don’t make a liar of me. Take me to your Tamer. If things are going wrong in there, the plan isn’t going to matter for long.”

Exchanging glances with Ranamon, a now jittery Dorugamon sighed and looked at MirageGaogamon. “You know what? I don’t give two shits about the plan anymore.” With a strong flap of her wings, she carried her blue companion and flew out of the hole on the wall, guiding Mirage to where she believed Zei could be.

But then everything changed as a mighty roar filled the air.

And as a nightmarish marriage of flesh and machine emerged from the building and into the world outside.
---
“What the hell is that.” Siggy stammered out, as any delusion of control over the situation vanished- as he laid eyes upon what was emerging from the building before him.

“They improved Kimeramon-” MonoGigimon was equally terrified. Both of them had been in panic before, but now they were beyond that. The panic had broken, and all that remained was cold, hard fear as a nightmare took form right in front of them.

“Good Yggdrasil…” Even being a Gallantmon wouldn’t dampen his fear in the slightest at this point. What Guilmon witnessed was nothing short of death given physical shape. Even more alarmingly so, they still didn’t know what was going on.

The creature- Millenniummon- was an abomination, pure and simple. Flesh and machine intertwined perfectly, and forged the frame for a creature larger than even Examon and Imperialdramon. A sickening crystalline growth pulsated out from its chest and spread up into the base of four might arms, but worse yet was what emerged from its back- two vast cannons almost as large as it was itself, and a blazing inferno of sickening yellow that warped the air around it.

“This would be an excellent time to Biomerge, you do realize?” MonoGigimon was once again the one left in charge of regaining control of the situation. “If this thing gets beyond this point, we’re looking at something worse than we ever could have imagined.”

Siggy’s words were caught in his mouth, but even he could acknowledge his partner’s words- their role had been to intercept anything inhuman leaving the building, and now was the time to make good on that-

Bad news. A familiar voice chose that moment to make itself known again. That Big ol’ bastard is going to delay the Biomerging process by a few minutes, at the very least. That meatbag must have programmed something proper clever into it- REALLY clever. I’m impressed, even I can’t mess around with your toys this good.

“... You can’t be fucking real right now.” Siggy was the one to snap this time, and cold panic gave way to an uncharacteristic fury.

Oh, y’all don’t appreciate fine design, The voice of the Hazard chuckled back, unfazed by the anger- But seriously, you’re going to want to find another way to hold that thing back for a few minutes. Got any ideas?

As it turned out, it wasn’t Siggy, MonoGigimon OR Guilmon that had the answer to that question.

”Looks like I’m pulling my weight already,” A sharp growl of a voice cut over through the mental link, as the world above the gathered ruptured- and as a blast of lightning delivered something vast to the world below.

The light of the sun and the blazing inferno was reflected from a mass of black crystal. A gigantic spear was readied as myriad eyes locked with those of the abomination before them.

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Parasimon hissed towards Millenniummon, the Omni-Shield blasting into life around him as he readied himself.

It was time for his final stand.

Hearing Jordan's voice behind her, Zei barely turned to glance at him, but her reply made it clear that she was aware he was there and acknowledged his presence by gently tapping his hand.

"... Jordan," she said to him, "You should leave. It's too dangerous to stay here."

Zei's voice was uncannily hollow, almost broken in a way. Though there was still the calm tone and the concern for his well-being in her voice, it seemed to be devoid of the emotion she used to show until now. If Jordan were to try and look into her eyes, he would see a glazed pair of hazelnut brown eyes that seemed to be scattered all over the place, just like her currently non-existent sanity.

She walked towards the gaping maw on the wall, standing just close enough to the edge. Looking out of the open hole, Zei could see the emergence of the terror that was Millenniummon and Parasimon, the latter coming with a fanfare of loud tearing noise and a crackle of lightning. BanchoLeomon had engaged in a fight with the now unhinged Beelzemon while Nocturnomon and Dynasmon, along with Elle, were doing anything they could to try and stop Millenniummon. While the setting, time and the actors on the stage were completely different, it felt like the Royal Knight war all over again.

However, Zei wasn't going to play the role of a renegade Knight this time.

----

"Ah, fuck," Was Dorugamon's response as things went from bad to worse, then from worse to worst-case-scenario in a moment's time. She barely had enough time to avoid the falling debris and glass shards after Millenniummon's grand appearance before spotting Zei standing too close to the open sky to her comfort. Her empty gaze and the fact that she was there in the first place confirmed Dorugamon's suspicion and, for once, she was unhappy about her guess being proven correct.

Her first priority would definitely be getting Zei and Ranamon to safety amidst the clusterfuck, but with her current form, she didn't think that she could carry both of them at the same time without sacrificing her aerial speed and that meant all three of them would become abomination food and consumable data packets.

The gears in her head running at full speed, Dorugamon turned to Mirage and, without warning, flung Ranamon off her back to the Knight, the latter screaming as she was thrown in the air and, hopefully, onto his arms. "Take her and get out of here! I'm going to go and get Zei!"

Not even waiting for a response from either Digimon, Dorugamon made a beeline for Zei, the human Tamer quickly catching sight of her partner as she shouted at the top of her lungs. "ZEI, JUMP, YOU FUCKER!!"

Zei didn't even bother thinking twice, or thinking about it in the first place, as, the next thing she knew, she found herself jumping off the ledge and free-falling down before landing with a loud "Ooof!" on Dorugamon's back. Not even wanting to spend more time being around the clusterfuck, she flew away with her Digidestined on her back holding onto the white scruff of her neck. She flew off just in time for Ulforce to vaporize the top chunk of the building in an attempt to halt Millenniummon's descent, Dorugamon silently cursing her luck as she carried her Tamer to safety and, hopefully, Biomerge to stop the monstrosity.

As Parasimon and UlforceVeedramon surrounded Millenniummon and blasts of energy streaked towards him, the beast raised a spectral claw, batting Dynasmon’s attack aside while simply allowing Nocturnomon’s beam to hit him ineffectually. Brushing the two on the ground aside as minimal threats, Millenniummon turned its attention to the Knight in front of him, drawn by the light of the Omni-Shield. It hissed, levelling its cannons at Parasimon before firing torrents of energy at him.

The sheer power of the attack was immediately noticeable; even before the attack was in striking range of the Knight, his shield blasted into life to block it. Or rather, to attempt to block it. The time he bought himself was enough to strafe the blast, but his shield feebly struggled against the attack for a mere few seconds before it buckled and shattered back into orange energy.

Parasimon grunted, shocked but remaining stoic. So he wasn’t going to be able to rely on his shield- no matter.
With a mighty whine, his wings emerged and lifted him into the air. With three dimensions of movement afforded to him, he’d be much more capable of avoiding a fatal hit- he’d just have to ensure he could stall Millenniummon’s advance from this range.

He prepped his spear; and as it had done many times the day before, the head sprouted into many, and Millenniummon was struck by thousands of energy bullets.

Millenniummon roared as he was struck by the bullets to virtually no effect, and the sheer force of the roar itself reverberated with a shockwave, knocking Parasimon back through the air as the beast charged, reaching out with one spectral claw to grasp the Knight and crush him.

Fortunately for Parasimon, he was able to escape the grasp of the gigantic abomination; though that was half because of the situation he now found himself in.
The sheer power of the shockwave from the roar had knocked his unprepared self out of the air; and although he managed to avoid being grabbed, he found himself silently falling to the hard ground below as he heard the sound of glass shattering from the very same shockwave for almost a kilometer around.
Clearly, this wasn’t a fight he was going to be effective in by himself; whatever the hell the others were doing, they had to pull themselves together quickly.

“Pull your shit together and get moving,” He growled to Siggy, MonoGigimon and Guilmon over the Hazard link as he picked himself up from the ground- they seemed to have moved elsewhere, as had every other non-combatant human in seeming terror- “I’m not fighting your battle for you.”

“Fuck off,” MonoGigimon spat back- “Keep him busy for a few more minutes, and we’ll try to Biomerge.”

“Fine,” Parasimon growled in return, before he ducked under a swing from Millenniummon that sent several buildings flying into the distant cityscape- “Just keep in mind it’s just me and your speedy little friend doing all the work out here. Where the hell is the cat?”

“One sec-” Siggy interjected, before he whipped out his phone. They’d left the building-top, and were now in an alley a short distance from the scene. Even from here, the sounds of the chaos and destruction were almost deafening. His phone rang- he didn’t get an answer as it just rolled over to messages. “Shit.”

“Well, this is just fantastic,” Parasimon muttered- before his voice abruptly cut off, leaving Siggy, MonoGigimon and Guilmon to themselves once more.

As she was now, it was hard for Dorugamon to fly with a human passenger on her back. Then the roar and the resulting shockwave nearly threw them both off, Zei only managing to hold onto Dorugamon while her partner tumbled around in the air before regaining balance just in time to land with a skid on a nearby road.

Groaning softly, Dorugamon pushed herself up with Zei’s help, but then quickly found herself being pulled into a hug with her head on her shoulder. The gesture, while appreciated, was so abrupt in that situation that she couldn’t help but wonder if something was wrong with her human partner… until she remembered that something was wrong with her human partner.

“Zei, is everything okay?” she asked her, her voice gruff, but mellow with concern. “What happened up there?”

Zei remained eerily silent for a moment before a hushed tone responded back. “Takeda… He killed Dirk.”

“... Sonova-” As annoying and grating as she found the human to be, even she couldn’t help but bitterly growl when she received the news. However, that wasn’t her main concern. “Did he do anything to you?” She sighed with relief when she felt her head moving against her fur in a shaking motion.

Zei finally pulled away to look at Dorugamon, but what the Champion saw sent a shiver down her spine. For one, there was very little life left in the brown eyes that used to glimmer with youthful energy and she could see a fractured sanity deep within the dull eyes. She looked more like an undead with just enough self-consciousness to live like a human and, whatever had happened up there, her already battered spirit had just about reached its breaking point. What she said next, however, reminded her that she still had her fighting drive, just not one inhibited by her feelings anymore.

“Dorugamon, we need to Biomerge. We have to stop… whatever it is up there.”

Dorugamon was wary. Zei was clearly mentally unstable at this point, yet still cognizant enough to recognize the danger of their situation. There was also the fact that she hadn’t heard from Alphamon ever since their merger with NeonGuilmon and Siggy, so there was no way for her to know what would happen if they tried.

Still, when she looked at her now, it almost felt as if she was looking at herself, just with less fur, no tail, no wings and no claws. It made her wonder if it would be different this time around, that something interesting would happen. Beneath the scarred gaze, she could still see the same determination that helped them both pull through tough situations and gruelling battles and, as she came to realize, while she was understandably concerned, she was never afraid of Zei regardless of her state of mind and she couldn’t help but smile because of it, the sheer strength of their trust in one another helping them tunnel into one sole goal:

Stopping Millenniummon.

“Well, we’re already knee-deep in this clusterfuck anyway. Might as well go all in,” the Champion replied with a fanged grin and then felt Zei gently pressing her forehead against the red gem on her head. Standing up, the young human reached for her white Digivice and watched it glow, but then nothing happened and the two were left in confusion. “Okay… What’s going on?”

Looking at the Digivice, then trying to recall any details of everything that happened in the building, Zei then said, “... Could it because of that Digimon’s presence? It was artificially created, so I assume that it functions differently to a naturally born Digimon.”

“Makes sense. Fucker must’ve been equipped with some substitute program to function that inhibits our Biomerge, or at least slows it down,” Dorugamon disdainfully growled. "Let's hope anyone around fare better than we do now." With no other option, the two were left waiting while they watched the battle unfold.

The contact of skin on skin was unexpected, as was the genuine, if misplaced, concern.
"Then it suits me," Jordan replied dryly.

He was about to ask again who was responsible for the abomination he had thought locked away in his deepest nightmares- a fact which had yet to truly dawn on him- when Zei began to approach the vast chasm that was created where the building's walls had once been. In that moment, his heart lurched, fearing that she might jump into the void. He had seen that look in her eyes, and it scared him. 'No more,' he thought to himself.

Then a swift rush of wind passed. Jordan heard a voice from a distance, a Digimon's voice. It took some time, but he eventually realized that it was Dorugamon.
"Zei, wait," he blurted, only for her to leap onto the Digimon's back and soar out into the other direction.

---

"Nopenopenopenopenope!"

Shortly after launching his attempted silencing of Millenniummom, Nocturnamon had turned around and was now flying away from the crossfire of UlforceVeedramon, Parasimon, and the aforementioned horror. The fierce buzzing of wings nearly knocked the Bat Digimon out of the sky, giving violent pains to his radar-like ears. It was supremely disheartening to admit, but Nocturnomon knew that he would be ineffectual in this fight as he was.

---

Left in the relative silence of the now abandoned building, Jordan began considering things he hadn't before. Perhaps there was a better reason to be involved, rather than simply stopping someone from repeating his mistakes, or doubting the ability of those he had found. His rumination was cut short by the return of Nocturnomon, who seemed visibly shaken.
"I think more forceful measures are in order," advised the Digimon.
Jordan lowered his head slightly, taking his chin into his hand.
"Not yet. I have something I want to look into first."
Jordan's reply baffled his partner, but, glad to get out of the radius of death the creature created, he agreed. Within moments they were airborne, drifting away from the site of chaos.
"Can you tell where Dorugamon went?" he asked.
"I can try," retorted his partner, before his ear twitched, hearing a scream in the distance, "In fact, I think I already know."

---

Moments later, Nocturnomon and Jordan landed at the street, just behind where Dorugamon and Zei stood, with Ranamon curiously absent. Having been taken in the claws of the rather lanky bat, Jordan was on his feet soon enough to approach Zei without a significant delay. However, the roar from Millenniummon caused him to double over, making his stomach turn.

Once his vision cleared, the boy stood, catching his breath.
"Where did it come from?" he asked without a second thought.
The dark miasma that had surrounded him earlier, while it seemed to have diminished, was still present, writhing about slowly. After a second, Jordan doubted his question. Maybe he didn't want to know. Finding out would only prevent him from denying that it existed. He didn't want to know that he could have somehow left the groundwork for this disaster. He didn't want to admit anything. He had to put out of his mind the possibility that it had happened, that his nightmares were any more than just that.
Now wreathed in a transparent grey gossamer smog, the boy stood before Zei, and let out a breath.
"No... what's wrong? Why are you out here? Do we..." he paused, suddenly feeling very unsure, his feelings clear in his voice, "Do we even fight it? Do we have a chance?"

Dynasmon didn't even see the impact coming, he was engrossed in the battle raging, all of the Digimon appearing. The only point he noticed was after he had been blasted through the second building. It had happened so fast. Milleniummon was far too powerful for them. He felt himself almost lose consciousness but shook his head and tried to focus. It wasn't easy. Pulling his large, clunky form up from the rubble, he tried to find the battle and suddenly felt his form almost rip apart. Roaring, he moved his consciousness inwards, and realised that Milleniummon was far stronger than he had thought, he'd managed to damage both parts of himself.

Wizardmon opened his eyes within Dynasmon, in agony, and looked at Elle. He noticed that somehow they had both been hurt physically while combined into the form of Dynasmon.

"Are you okay?" He asked her

"No.. but we have to do something. There's no chance in hell I'm letting them hurt my family. Or any possible future I have."

Wizardmon smiled, she had changed

"Get off your ass then, slacker, let's see what we can muster up"

Outwardly, Dynasmon began glowing, routing all of his energy into himself. He roared as he routed all of their combined anguish and pain into himself. He raised himself into the air, flying high to get a better view of the battle, and of his opponent. "LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE THIS, FUCK NUGGET!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, releasing almost all of the energy from his body and his two component parts, leaving enough to keep himself together only, and shaped it into a massive flaming dragon. "DRAGON BREATH!" He added, throwing the attack at Milleniummon, doing all he could to control it.

"If we die" said Elle "I hope Leon doesn't find out."

"We'll work it out. We'll come back and haunt him." replied Wizardmon

"Oh shut up" came the response and caused Wizarmon to laugh.

BanchoLeomon roared as he kicked Beelzemon through a building and followed up with a swing of his sword, sending a shockwave flying towards the Demon Lord that exploded on impact. Smoke and debris emanated from the now-crumbling building as people in the streets screamed in terror and fled.

“Are you done yet?” BanchoLeomon called out towards Beelzemon, sword in hand. “Because this is your last chance. Leave now or I rip you apart.”

A moment passed before a bullet knocked BanchoLeomon’s sword out of his hand. Beelzemon stepped out of the debris he had crashed into, Berejena shotguns leveled at the lion’s head.

“Fuck off. I’m trying to kill you and you’re offering to let me go? Goddamn pussy is what you are.” He spat, opening fire.

Gritting his teeth, BanchoLeomon charged forward, turning into an orange blur as he ducked and weaved his way through the storm of bullets coming at him until he reached Beelzemon, though not without taking several rounds of gunfire. Still, he managed to drive a fist into Beelzemon’s gut with one hand while wrenching a shotgun out of his hand with the other. Stepping back, BanchoLeomon raised his stolen Berejena at Beelzemon’s chest as the Demon Lord took aim with his remaining shotgun.

Bang.

Both Mega Digimon stepped back, clutching their chests as they dropped their guns in pain.

“You…” Beelzemon snarled as a yellow crest began to glow on his left hand. “You’re strong. I like that. I need that. Give me your power! Everything you have! I’ll consume it all!” A sickly yellow aura of the exact same color as his crest began to envelop Beelzemon’s entire body as he started cackling maniacally.

“God damn psychopath!” BanchoLeomon scowled as orange flames burst out around him. “Fine! You want it, you’ve got it!” He roared as he ascended to Burst Mode.

Both Digimon, enveloped by their auras and crackling with energy, stared each other down for a moment before rushing at each other, fists cocked back.

Zei, Dorumon and Ranamon knew that their decision to come here wasn't made without knowing that everyone else would be displeased to see them here. Zei already saw it happening with Leon and Lucas and Dorugamon had to deal with Mirage, so neither of them were surprised to see Jordan following them and wondering why they were there in the first place. What made them wary was the strange, translucent grey smog around him. They could see it, but it didn't appear to be exuding any pungent smell, which made them wonder what it could be. However, his doubtful inquiries helped bring them back to the matter at hand, namely a destructive artificial Digimon now just a Parasimon away from wreaking havoc.

"Does it look like we give a shit about that?" Dorugamon remarked with a soft bite in her snarky reply, a fanged grin across her dark violet and white muzzle.

"We will fight it, no matter what," Zei replied, her voice strangely hollow, but hiding something within. It was like looking into a big hole and hearing the growl of a wild animal from within. She looked back at her Digivice and watched it reconfigure the process necessary to start the Biomerge, but she could see statics on the screen, knowing that they were still battling with the unknown factor.

One moment, Parasimon and Dynasmon seemed to be the only Digimon putting up any semblance of a fight against Millenniummon.

The next moment, something came down hard on the beast’s head, causing it to roar with pain and swat at the new attacker.

“About goddamn time,” Parasimon growled, taking the opportunity that the freshly-Biomerged Examon Mordred’s attack had opened up to close in and thrust at Millenniummon’s torso with his spear; a slight crack appeared in the crystalline growth covering it, but it failed to pierce deep.

Examon didn’t bother to reply, instead calling out his own spear and thrusting it towards the torso a joint attack with Parasimon; this time there was an audible hiss as black gas began to seep out from a sizeable fissure in the crystalline growth. The double-assault had reached some semblance of success.

A success that was swiftly exploited with a second joint attack.

“Desolation of Camlann!” The spear-tips of both their weapons pressed deep into the fissure, the two Hazard Knights took advantage of the opening that Millenniummon had given them in his pain and opened fire. Their weapons expanded whilst still buried deep in the monster’s body, and an ear-splitting roar of pain from Millenniummon filled the air and sent shockwaves blasting out all around them.

The dread beast that was Millenniummon reared back, charging up the twin cannons on its shoulders before firing up into the air. The blast dispersed midair, and bright streams of death rained down upon the battlefield, obliterating whatever it touched. Buildings were disintegrated, fleeing civilians were consumed by the light, and the ground itself was rent asunder by the force of the blasts. Downtown Shibuya was engulfed in flame, and what people that remained in the area stared in shock and horror at the devastation that was wrought right in the middle of Tokyo.

At least until something else came rushing towards them.

“RUN.” The blue blur screamed at them, bringing them to their senses and sending them running as fast as they possibly could away from the scene of destruction.
Calling on all the power his spirits could lend him, MirageGaogamon slide-evolved to a form he had assumed the day before; and in a moment, the blue blur became completely imperceivable as it began to shoot about the ground of the battlefield.

‘You keep fighting, I’ll take care of the humans on the ground,’ MagnaGarurumon mentally hissed to Examon and Parasimon over the Hazard link, as he placed a somewhat confused young man down a few hundred meters away from where he had found him and gave him a push away from the carnage. ‘If the others could start to Biomerge, that would be wonderful.’