Between Light and Darkness

"Mega Flame…"

"V-Nova Blast…"

"Baptême d'Amour…"

"Light Speed Jabbing…"

"Death Behind…"

"Maul Attack…"

Tai and the other watched as their partners went to works on a group of Musyamon, the shogun Digimon had been harassing a village of mostly In Training Digimon that was located at an oasis near the edge of the desert. A few had retreated however there was one who seemed to be more stubborn then the others.

It had been two weeks since the incident with Azulongmon and the group had pretty much settled into their new roles of protecting the Digital World, during most of that time they'd encountered several gangs of Digimon who were oppressing weaker ones, some claiming it was for the glory of their master although none of them seemed to know anything.

"This guy is beginning to annoy me." Tai said, he then reached drew a card from his deck and tossed it to Alexis, "Here you can finish him off."

Taking the card, the blond haired duelist slid through the slot in the side of her D-Arc.

DIGIMODIFY…CYBER HARPY ACTIVATE

Long talons appeared on d'Arcmon's hands as well as long feathers on her forearms. "Take him out with Cyber Slash." Without a moments hesitation, the angel/harpy leaped into the air and charged at the remaining Myusyamon slashing it across the chest with her talons, reducing it into data shards.

The threat over D'Arcmon and the others reverted back into their Rookie forms, as they did several Nyaromon came bounding up to her telling her they thought she was awesome and that she was way cooler then Gatomon and how they were gonna be like her when they Digivolved, a bunch of Koromon doing the same with Agumon.

"That's the third attack this week." Mimi said.

"Yeah, although it feels kinda good to be helping we're no closer to stopping whatever it is we have to face." Syrus added

"Guys chill, we'll take this thing down eventually but for now let's just focus on what we can do to help out." Jaden said

"Guess you're right." Alexis replied.

The twelve of them spent the next few hours helping out in the village before heading to the nearest TV set.

"Man I'm tired." Syrus said.

"Copy that privet." Hassleberry put in, "I'm as tired as a one legged maul at a butt kickin contest."

"Maybe we should do something when we get back." Jaden suggested.

"What do you mean?" Alexis asked.

"I was thinking we could grab Zane, Bastion and Chazz and maybe Mindy and Jasmine if they're up for it and just chill out." The HERO duelist said, "Watch a movie or something."

"Movie night, that sounds like it could be fun." Mimi said, "Just don't let Tai pick the movie."

"And what pray tell is wrong with my taste in cinema?" Tai asked, sounding indignant.

"You like horror movies. The last time I was at your place you made me watch Dawn of the Dead." The Bearer of Sincerity told him. The pair then noticed that Jaden, Alexis and Hassleberry staring at them whilst Syrus looked from one person to the other, a look of confusion on his face.

"It was nothing like that." the cinnamon haired girl said, "He got all the original team together just before I moved to America, we couldn't decide what to watch so we all drew straws and Tai unfortunately won."

"Yeah well, movie night sounds great." Alexis said trying to veer the conversation back on topic.

"Yeah we can stay up all night eating popcorn and pork rinds and beef jerky, swap stories, maybe a few duels. It'll be awesome." Jaden said excitedly, they soon came across a TV set and returned to Duel Academy.

Meanwhile in the real world Kari and her friends (minus T.K who had basketball practice and Cody who had kendo) had been released from school and were now seated in their favorite café. Kari sipped her herbal tea before turning attention to her math homework pretending to ignore that Gatomon was helping herself to her muffin. Nearby Yolie was seated at one of the computers chatting to someone online whilst Ken was reading a magazine with Davis peering over his shoulders, whilst their partners were getting jazzed up on java.

"Hey what you reading?" she asked.

"Here, read this." Ken said handing it to her.

She saw it was an article about something to do with the Duel Monsters card game, her eyes then widened when she came across a picture of the young man in question. "Huh, no way."

"Something wrong Kari?" Gatomon asked, wiping some crumbs off from around her mouth.

"That's him Gatomon." Kari replied, "That's the guy I ran into."

"What guy?" She saw Davis and Ken standing over her.

"Him." She said pointing to the picture of a young guy with platinum hair and blue eyes, wearing a grey suit, "I've met him."

The two stared at her, their eyes wide in shock. "Kari, that's Aster Phoenix?" Ken said

"He's like one of the best duelists in the world," Davis added, "How come you didn't tell us you knew him?"

*'What, no way.'* Kari thought as she stared at the picture, *'He's a professional duelist.'*

"Hey Kari, you okay?" Davis's voice snapped her out of her daze, "Your face is all flushed."

Quickly placing her hands over her cheeks Kari got up and dashed off to the ladies, looking at herself in the mirror she saw that her face was indeed a bright shade of crimson.

Jasmine stared out the window of the Obelisk Blue girls common room along with her friend Mindy who was currently in an armchair painting her toe nails "Hey Min, any idea what Alexis keeps going off to?" The red head asked.

"No, why do you ask?" Mindy replied to which Jasmine sighed.

"She's been like this for the last two weeks. One minute she's here then suddenly her PDA goes off and she like disappears. Not only that sometimes I hear her talking to herself but when I ask about it she totally denies it. She's been acting totally weird ever since her parents sent that stuffed animal."

"You mean that pink puppy thing, I think it's cute." Mindy replied

"That is so not the point. What I want to know is where Alexis is hiding from us." Jasmine said.

"Maybe she's finally got a boyfriend, maybe that Jaden kid finally learned what fiancée meant and is being all romantic, serenading her under the stars." The ebony haired girl suggested, a far off looking her eyes causing Jasmine to sweat drop. Just then a sly grin appeared on Mindy's face, "You're not jealous are you, I mean you did have a crush on Jaden for a while after he saved you from that monkey."

Jasmine's face flushed at this. "Oh please I am so over him. I mean sure he's cute, funny, brave and a talented duelist but he's a Slifer Red." she told her companion, "Anyways I don't think so, if Alexis had a boyfriend I think we'd know."

"So what are we gonna do then?" Mindy asked.

"Simple, next time Alexis says she needs to go we follow her and see where she goes and who she's with." Jasmine replied.

"Isn't that like spying?" Mindy said, sounding unsure.

"No, that would be creepy and wrong." Jasmine retorted, "All we're doing is looking out for our friend."

Mindy sighed. "If you say so."

The next day was pretty quiet, classes had just finished for the day when and Alexis and co had just entered their room to drop off their things and were chilling out in the common room when Alexis's PDA went off. "Hey you two I'm sorry but I need to go, it's an emergency." Alexis said to Jasmine and Mindy once she'd read the message.

"Sure, no problem." Jasmine replied.

Alexis eyed the red head momentarily before leaving the room, a few minutes later Jasmine observed the blonde leaving the building through the window, her backpack slung over her shoulder and her duel disk strapped to her arm

"Alright lets go." She said to Mindy who sighed as the two of them followed their friend to the school library where they hid amongst the bookcases as Alexis walked over to the back of the room where the computers were located seeing Bastion was seated at one.

A minute later Jaden, Tai, Mimi, Zane Syrus, Hassleberry and Chazz (all of whom also had a backpack, except for Syrus and Chazz, and their Duel Disks) as well as something wearing a baseball cap and a Slifer jacket entered the room Jasmine looked on her eyes narrowing as she tried to figure this out.

What she nor her accomplices were prepared for was when Alexis opened her bag and the head of the pink puppy thing popped out

"Finally, it's hot and stuffy in there." It said.

The others opened their own bags and from Tai's appeared an orange dinosaur, from Jaden's a purple lizard like creature. From that girl friend of Tai's a green thing with a pink flower on its head. From Zane's came a blue and white dog like creature with boxing gloves on its hands. From Hassleberry's came a small lizard/dinosaur with pixelated skin dressed head to foot in combat fatigues and carrying an M-16 assault rifle. From under the desk Bastions was sitting at emerged a cartoonish looking bee. From Chazz's jacket emerged a strange looking creature with a large grin on its face its head mostly covered by what resembled an executioners cap. And from the pile of jackets next to Syrus appeared a bear cub that was almost the same size as he was with blue straps around its paws, which then turned baseball cap backwards.

"Finally we're out of there." The plant thing said

"Yeah, no offense Tai but it smells like your old gym socks in there." The orange dinosaur thing added

"Gee thanks a lot Agumon." Tai replied

Zane then noticed the blue and white dog was sniffing the air "What's wrong Gaomon?"

"There are others here." The blue dog said. "Over there." and pointed at where they were hiding.

Palmon ran over to the bookcase and used her vines to snare the two people who'd been spying on them dragging out two girls wearing Obelisk girls garments

"Mindy Jasmine, what are you doing here?" Alexis demanded

"It's all Jasmine's fault, she got all suspicious about where you keep running off to so she decided to spy on you and dragged me here." Mindy said.

"You Judas." Jasmine snapped, she couldn't believe that her friend would turn on her so quickly.

"How much did you two see?" Alexis asked firmly.

"Everything." Jasmine said firmly as she and Mindy got to their feet.

"Sooo…what's going on anyway?" Mindy asked.

"We don't have time for this." Zane stated to which Tai nodded in agreement.

Alexis sighed. "Look there's a really important thing I have to go deal with." She told them, "Once it's dealt with I promise I'll explain everything."

She and the other members of the Digidestined and their partners headed over to where the computers were. "Hey you just can't ditch us." Jasmine growled, she then grabbed Mindy's arm and ran over to the others who were standing in front of one of the machines.

"Okay let's roll out…gate open." Tai said. Suddenly Jasmine appeared dragging Mindy behind her and grabbed hold of Alexis. The gate then surged into life creating an almost blinding light that converted them from flesh and blood into digital data and dragged them in.

Within seconds the party found themselves among grass land with a forest nearby. Jasmine and Mindy stared at their surroundings wide eyed. "Oh. My. God." Jasmine gasped out.

"What just happened?" Mindy asked.

"What are those two doing here?" Chazz asked.

"I don't know, I was under the impression only people with a Digivice could travel to the Digital World." Bastion replied

"So know they're here what do we do with them?" Jaden asked.

"Whatever we decide we'd better make it quick, the longer we stay here the time whoever we have to fight has to cause damage to this area." Zane added.

"Hmmm." Tai thought for a moment however his train of thought was cut off when a large green digimon resembling the ancient dinosaur Stegosaurus emerged from the trees, Zane scanned it.

Stegomon

Level: Champion

Attribute Data

Type Dinosaur Digimon

Shell Needle Rain Guillotine Wheel

Just then both Jasmine and Mindy screamed in terror which unfortunately caught the creatures attention

"Shell Needle Rain…" the spikes on its back glowed before being fired at the group of humans.

"Quick out of the way." Tai yelled ,everyone then ran managing to get out of the way before they were hit. The giant creature roared in frustration.

"Guillotine Wheel…" to everyone's surprise it then rolled itself into a ball and began spinning turning into a living saw, the spikes on its back cutting a grove in the ground. A scream was heard and looking round the and saw Jasmine who'd tripped and lay in Stegomon's path, without a moment's Jaden ran and jumped in front of Jasmine D-arc in hand.

"Monodramon…" He cried red energy surrounded him.

MONODRAMON DIGIVOLVE TOO…VEEDRAMON

"V-Nova Blast…" Veedramon fired his heatbeam at Stegomon who went crashing to the ground Jaden then drew a card "Alright, lets see how you like this."

DIGIMODIFY, ELEMENTAL HERO THUNDER GIANT ACTIVATE

Veedramon let out a growl as Thunder Giant's chest armor, boots shoulder pads and gauntlets appeared on his body. "Alright finish it Veedramon, Voltaic Thunder…" Jaden ordered. An orb on electric energy manifested itself between Veedramon's hands before firing it at the dinosaur like creature reducing it to data shards.

"You okay?" Jaden asked as he offered his hand to help the red haired girl off the ground Jasmine stared at him a light blush on her cheeks as she accepted Jaden hand

"Ah isn't that sweet." Mindy said, "This makes it twice that Jaden has come to your rescue Jaz." Which earned a blush from both Jaden and Jasmine as well as a stern look from Alexis.

"Well we'd better get used to having those around." Tai said.

"Why'd you say that?" Chazz asked, Tai pointed to the TV they'd entered by which had been reduced into smouldering pile of slag by Stegomon's Shell Needle Rain.

"What you mean we're stuck here?" Jasmine squealed.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Jaden said reassuringly, "It just means we'll just have to find another way out of here."

"Okay you two, do what you're told stick close to us don't run off and you should survive long enough to get back to the academy." Tai said before leading them into the nearby forest.

The forest was peaceful but according to the message they'd received, the digital warriors knew somewhere lurked something evil which had to be eliminated before it could cause a great deal of damage, plus they might be able to get some idea of this great evil threatened both worlds.

Jasmine and Mindy were getting the abridged version of what was going on as well as Tai's story as they walked amongst the foliage when suddenly Little Chimera appeared and gave a small growl

"What's up?" Tai asked the cat like creature then dashed to wards a nearby bush sniffed it and let out a growl the bush then began rustling

"Augh, What was that?" Syrus asked as the group halted.

Tai ran over to it and under it found two blob like creatures. One was purple and shaped like a tear drop whilst the other and shaped like a sun with a flame atop its head, both of whom were trembling

"I wonder what those are?" Alexis asked

"Ahh they're so cute." Mindy squealed Tai scanned them

Sunmon

Level: In Training

Attribute: Vaccine

Type: Lesser Digimon

Burning Bubble

Moonmon

Level: In Training

Attribute: Data

Type: Lesser Digimon

Luna Bubble

"I think the poor things are scared." Mimi said, "I wonder why their hiding here?"

"Hey there little guy." Jasmine said slowly reaching forward towards the sun shaped creature "Its ok, you don't have to be scared we won't hurt you."

The creature seemed hesitant at first, it sniffed her fingers then rubbed its head/body against her hand whilst the other leaped into Mindy's chest

"I think they like you." Mimi said.

Soon the team found themselves in an area devoid of trees that had been cleared and what looked like one of those old prospector settlements from the time of the American gold rush built. Or that what was supposed to be there, instead there was nothing but smoking remains, a strange mist also hung in the air

"My god, what happened here?" Alexis asked not expecting an answer

"I believe I can answer that question for you worthless human." A sinister voice said followed by an evil laugh, from out of the smoldering remains was a two legged creature with dark blue fur and a pair of winging coming out of its back that looked as though they were stitched together with bolts sticking out of the tips, it wore a metal mask with gaps in it revealing a pair of red eyes and its sharp teeth. Its arms and legs had pieces of metal wrapped around them and from its tail were several wires that were sparking

"What in hell is that?" Jaden asked as he scanned it

DexDorugamon

Level: Champion

AttributeVirus

Type Undead Digimon

Metal Cast Cannon Ball

"You bastard, you destroyed this place. You wiped out the entire population of this town for your own sick twisted pleasure." Mimi spat venomously.

DexDorugamon laughed. "Well you're half right flesh creature. Whilst I don't deny wiping the populace of this town off the map was fun, I did so on the orders of my master. He to track down and eliminate a potential threat if it is allowed to live." The undead creature said, "That's right, I serve the one you were brought here to stop. I am his first General."

"What power are you talking about?" Zane demanded.

"The one you oh so generously brought to me." DexDorugamon said and pointed at Mindy and Jasmine or rather the two digimon that they were carrying.

"You mean Sunmon and Moonmon?" Jaden said in confusion.

"They may not look like much but deep within them is one of the greatest powers in the digital world, the powers of the sun and moon, a power that dwarfs that of the Three Great Angels."

The group of warriors stared at the two little blob creatures. *'Those two little Digimon, could they really contain such awesome powers?'* Tai thought, *'Although I don't trust corpse boy there, I doubt he'd destroy an entire village then stick around to tell us about it no reason. If it's true we have no choice but to protect those little guys.'*

"Well guess again corpse boy, we won't let you get your decomposing mitts on those two." Tai stated.

"I knew you'd say that, you humans are so pathetically predictable." The zombie creature smirked, "Oh and you were wrong about one other thing."

"Yeah and what's that?" Chazz demanded.

"That I was here by my self. Now worthless humans, say hello to my lil friend." From the smoke a large yellow creature lumbered towards them, its head covered by a brown face mask, a metal shoulder pad on its left shoulder its left arm was many times larger then its right, and some armor plating on the end of its tail

"Allow me to introduce you to my subordinate, Cyclonemon." DexDorugamon said an evil grin on its decomposing face Zane scanned it

Cyclonemon

Level: Champion

Attribute Virus

Type Dinosaur Digimon

Hyper Heat Arm Bomber

"Is that all you got, how lame. Ready guys?" Tai asked getting out his D-arc "Ready."

The others replied as they took out their own "Good."

He then turned his focus to Mindy and Jasmine "You two, if this fight looks like it might go bad I want you to run and find a place to hide, do not let those two get their hands on Sunmon and Moonmon." He stated he then returned his focus to DexDorugamon and Cyclonemon. "Ready Agumon?"

"Always am." His partner replied.

"Then let's do it." Tai said as the screens of each Digivise lit up.

AGUMON DIGIVOLVE TOO….GEOGREYMON

PALMON DIGIVOLVE TOO….TOGEMON

MONODRAMON DIGIVOLVE TOO….VEEDRAMON

SALAMON DIGIVOLVE TOO….D'ARCMON

GAOMON DIGIVOLVE TOO….GAOGAMON

FANBEEMON DIGIVOLVE TOO….WASPMON

BEARMON DIGIVOLVE TOO….GRIZZLYMON

COMMANDRAMON DIGIVOLVE TOO….SEALSADRAMON

DRACMON DIGIVOLVE TOO…. SANGLOUPMON

All nine champion level Digimon appeared, ready for battle. "Jaden, take Alexis, Zane, Mimi and Bastion and deal with Cyclonemon. Chazz, Sarge and I will take care of DexDorugamon." Tai said

"What about me?" Syrus asked.

"I need someone to to hang back to protect Mindy and Jasmine just in case." Tai replied.

"Worthless maggotmon's, Cannon Ball…" DexDorugamon fired a cannon ball from its mouth

"Hyper Heat…" Cyclonemon followed this up by firing a red hot laser beam from its jaws

"Mega Burst…" GeoGreymon retaliated firing a blast of powerful energy from his jaws which intercepted the cannon ball

"V-Nova Blast…"

"Spiral Blow…" Gaogamon both launched their own attacks which combined together creating a fiery tornado which canceled out Cyclonemon's heat beam.

The nine digmon then split up and went after their respective targets.

"Arm Bomber…" Cyclonemon gathered flames in its larger arm and tried to strike Togemon down with it, the cactus digimon leaped out of the way

"Light Speed Jabbing…" Togemon then unleashed a barrage of punches at Cyclonemon.

Gaogamon charged toward lumbering yellow giant

"Gaoga Hound…" He then latched his jaws around one of Cyclonemon's arm.

"V-Nova Blast…"

"Baptême d'Amour…"

"Bear Buster…"

Veedramon's heat beam connected with Cyclonemon's head whilst d'Arcmon drove her sword into the creature's neck and Waspmon fired his laser at Cyclonemon's chest.

Cyclonemon howled in agony, raising its colossal arm it threw Gaogamon off and threw him into Veedramon's chest knocking him to the ground

"Argh, we can't win like this." Zane growled

"In deed, it seems we only have one option." Bastion said

"Way ahead of you Bastion." Jaden said smiling, the four of them took out their D-arc and drew a card from their decks

DIGIMODIFY, ELEMENTAL HERO WILD EDGE ACTIVATE

DIGIMODIFY, CYBER PRIMA ACTIVATE

DIGIMODIFY, CYBER DRAGON ACTIVATE

DIGIMODIFY, SABER BEETLE ACTIVATE

Veedramon gained Wildedge's helmet armored shin guard and boot on its right leg, shoulder pad and gauntlet on its let shoulder and arm and its sword.

d'Arcmon hair turned silver and grew as well as gaining the ballerina's mask gold jewelry and tutu.

Gaogamon's body gained a metallic look, its head gaining a mask that looked like Cyber Dragon's head.

Waspmon's body gained a brown shell and its 'stinger' was replaced by an energy drill.

"Ok Veedramon, Infinity Edge Slicer." Jaden ordered.

"d'Arcmon use Glissade Typhoon" Alexis commanded.

"Gaogamon, Evolution Burst." Zane shouted.

"Waspmon Laser Drill." Bastion added.

A beam of energy was fired from Gaogamon's mouth slamming into Cyclonemon's. Waspmon then followed this up by using his new laser drill on the yellow behemoth's neck. d'Arcmon began spinning like a top and then swiped at Cyclonemon's chest and Veedramon finished it off by using his new sword to decapitate Cyclonemon, the four of them then returned to normal as Cyclonemon turned to data particles.

"Wow, I really got to trade in my Digivise for one of those D-arcs." Mimi said.

"Talk with Gennia, I'm sure he wouldn't mind hooking you up with one." Bastion replied, "Now lets go help Tai's group out, I'm sure they'll need all the help they can get to deal with that freak show."

And true to his word Tai's team certainly weren't fairing very well against DexDorugamon.

"Cannon Ball…" The digital zombie fired a large iron ball that struck Commandramon in the chest sending his crashing into the remains of one of the charred buildings bringing it tumbling down. Just then Sangloupmon burst from DexDorugamon's shadow

"Sticker Blade…" Thousands of tiny blades were fired from the demon hounds front shin guards, slicing at the rotting corpse and managing to cut one of its arms off.

"You'll pay for that, Metal Cast…" DexDorugamon snarled before driving its remaining arm into Sangloupmon's chest.

"What the hell is it doing to Sangloupmon?" Chazz dug out his D-arc and consulted it.

*Metal Cast: DexDorugamon tears out the foe's Digicore with its iron arms. DexDorugamon is a predator that desires to feed on the DigiCores of its victims.*

"Death Behind… " Sealsdramon suddenly appeared behind DexDorugamon, driving his knife into his back. The zombie cried out in pain which made him remove his claws from Sangloupmon's chest so he could throw Sealdramon off him.

"Maul Attack…" Before it could something blue and white slammed into him and was sent sprawling to the ground. "No way corpse boy, not hurting anyone else." Grizzlymon growled.

Tai looked round and saw Syrus heading towards him. "I know you ordered me to protect Jasmine and Mindy, but I thought you could use some help." The spectacle clad youth said.

Tai gave him annoyed look before turning back to the battle that was going on. "I'll let you off the hook this time."

Meanwhile whilst Grizzlymon dealt with DexDorugamon Sangloupmon reverted back to Dracmon. "Cannon Ball…" DexDorugamon spat out another iron ball to force Grizzlymon off him, "Metal Cast…"

"Spiral Blow…" before the zombie could tear out the bears Digicore a tornado struck him and Gaogamon appeared along with Veedramon, d'Arcmon, Togemon and Waspmon.

"Hey, how are things on your end?" Jaden asked.

"Not so good Sarge." Hassleberry replied, "This one's slipperier then a greased pig in a hog catching contest."

d'Arcmon appeared before DexDourgamon. "Time to meet your end freak." She then lunged at him with her blades only to have him dodge each blow.

The creature smirked "Cannon Ball…" he then fired a cannon ball at the angel type who destroyed it with her swords. Then without warning DexDourgamon appeared out of nowhere and struck her in the throat sending her crashing to the ground and reverting back to Salamon.

A roar was heard and both Grizzlymon and Gaogamon charged towards the digital ghoul who just let out a chuckle and ran off amongst the ruins the 2 beast types giving chase but due the smoke from the ruins it wasn't long before the two not only lost sight of DexDourgamon but also separated from each other.

Gaogamon walked among the charred ruins, a cry then rang out "Grizzlymon."

He ran until he found Bearmon lying on the ground, however before he could go check on his teammate a sinister laugh was heard and from out of the mist appeared DexDourgamon doing to Gaogamon what he did to d'Arcmon, reverting him back to Goamon.

Smirking DexDourgamon emerged from the gloom over to where his severed arm lay and was reattaching it to his body when Sealsdramon appeared. DexDougamon smirked, this was the last of the traitors in his size range after that that just left GeoGreymon Togemon and Veedramon. Although they were larger they'd have trouble hitting a much smaller target who was also pretty swift footed.

Sealsdramon lunged at the zombie with his knife who dodged out of the way.

"Ahh, too slow." He mocked "Cannon Ball..."

He then spat a cannonball at Sealsdramon slamming him into the charred remains of one of the buildings, he then reverted back to Commnandramon.

"So who's next." The crashing of huge footsteps was heard and Togemon and Veedramon came into view.

"Needle Spray…" the giant cactus fired the spines from her body at the zombie

"V-Nova Blast…" Veedramon then followed this up by using his heat beam and ignited several of the spines which DexDourgamon had a hard time dodging and was hit by several of the burning spines.

"Mega Burst…" DexDourgamon was struck in the back by a beam of red hot energy setting his back a light, once her was done rolling on the ground to put the flames out he saw GeoGreymon behind him, "Mega Flame…"

"Needle Spray…"

"V-Nova Blast…" all three Digimon fired their attacks at the smaller Digimon who leaped sky wards to dodge the attack, the combined Needle Spray and V-Nova Blast connecting with GeoGreymon's chest

"Heh heh, this is to easy." DexDourgamon chuckled darkly he then dashed and leaped onto Veedramon's chest and launched himself at Togemon

"Cannon Ball…" he fired yet another cannon ball which exploded in Togemon's face

"Why you little, Light Speed Jabbing…" Togemon growled before unleashing a barrage of punches all of which missed due to being blinded by the explosion

"Hammer Punch…" a blue fist emerged from the gloom aimed at DexDourgamon only to miss Togemon and Veedramon striking one another in the face and reverting back to their rookie stages. Growling GeoGreymon got to his feet

"Mega Flame…" he then fired off multiple fireballs at DexDourgamon who narrowly managed to dodge them.

"Well this is fun, your not like those others, your way stronger. I'll take great pleasure in devouring your Digicore." DexDourgamon smirked "Cannon Ball…" he then fired multiple cannon balls which struck GeoGreymon in the legs chest throat and an area that houses a very important part of the male anatomy, GeoGreymon then collapsed.

"Well I expected better from the digidestined. I'll dine on this overgrown lizard's digicore then I'll deal with you snot nosed brats." DexDourgamon then made his way over to the fallen dinosaur *'What do we do, Jaden and the other's partners have returned to rookie and GeoGreymon is down.*' Tai growled. *'It just seems so hopeless.'*

**"That's enough. I won't hear those words pass your lips, it sickens me to see you being so pitiful."** A voice in a growl like tone said.

Tai's duel disk began glowing an soon the light became almost blinding, the light consuming everything from sight.

When it died away Tai found himself on the same soccer field he'd played on when he was a kid. Surrounding him were Red eyes Black Chick and Little Chimera as well as all the monsters that from the cards used in both his Duel Monsters decks.

**"Tai each of your monsters as well as your partner is but a single flame and it is your inner strength is what makes them burn."** The disembodied voice said, **"Remember you never alone. There will always be someone at your side, be it you friends, Agumon, your spirit partners or your monsters."**

A glowing orb appeared before Tai which transformed into a card. **"Your fire will never die."** All the monsters gave him either a smile or cry of encouragement.

A roar was heard and looking up he saw a large dragon above him and everything went white.

Back in the real world Tai began snarling as a black aura surrounded him, he then glared at DexDourgamon revealing his eyes had turned red. Behind him his shadow stretched out, but it wasn't in any humanoid shape, it was shaped like a dragon. He then drew a card from his deck and took out his D-arc. "Time to burn."

DIGIMODIFY, RED-EYES BLACK DRAGON ACTIVATE

There was a burst of light from GeoGreymon's fallen form that consumed all the mist. A pair of large wings sprouted from GeoGreymon's back as his body turned ebony black, his eyes changing to a darker shade of red. Spreading his newly acquired wings, he took flight and out of DexDorugamon's reach.

"GeoGreymon, Inferno Fire Blast…" Tai yelled, from his jaws the dragon/dinosaur launched an orb of burning dark crimson death, the fiery mass engulfing DexDorugamon as well as several of the ruined buildings.

Both Tai and GeoGreymon let lose a roar the dinosaur/dragon returned to earth and changed back before reverting to rookie. The black aura surrounding Tai's body disappeared but he wasn't the same, his hair now had black and red highlights and his eyes were tinted red.

"Tai…are you okay?" Jaden asked breaking the silence as he and the others slowly approached their leader supporting their partners.

"Hey whats going on?" Mindy and Jasmine emerged from the forest Sunmon and Moonmon still in their arms then gasped when they caught sight of Tai.

The brunette chuckled.

"I feel great." He said. "What's say we get out of here, first this we need to do before we head for home is find a safe place for Min and Jaz's little friends. If their as powerful as corpse boy said then they need to be sent somewhere out of the way where they aren't gonna be picked on."

"Not a bad idea." Bastion said as he checked the map function on his D-arc, "According to this there's a TV not to far north of here, we can get in contact with Gennai from there. He might have a few ideas."

"Sounds good, let's move out." Tai replied and began walking off, the others following wondering what to make of Tai's new look.

At that moment, someplace far from the battlefield a shadowy figure entered a darkened room, inside he was a large serpent like creature with glowing red eyes waiting for him.

"What is it?" The serpent demanded.

"My master I bring news, DexDourgamon has fallen." The servant said.

"I see. Leave." The serpent said, his servant bowed then left. "It would seem these new warriors are more troublesome then I first thought." The serpent was silent for a few minutes when something occurred to it. "You can come out Devimon, I have an assignment for you."

The black demon Digimon emerged from the shadows and bowed. "What is it that you wish of me master?"

"I want you to locate these pests and eliminate them." The mysterious figure said, its tone stern.

The demon smirked "Consider it done." He then vanished back into the shadows, leaving his master to his thoughts.

*'Soon, very soon...'*