Yang-Yin
Chapter Forty-two: "Veritas Vos Liberabit"

Takuya and Katsuharu clasped hands, and for the first time, the two teams saw their leaders together, uniting them in one group. Katsuharu then turned and pointed at Ophanimon in a wordless challenge.

"Very well," she decided. "You have brought this on yourselves. Koji."

"Yes?" he asked, looking up at her.

She didn't even spare a glance for him as she ordered, "Begin the attack."

Outside, the Warriors watched on in determination as Katsuharu lowered his hand.

"Think she got the message?" he asked.

A phantom wolf came at them, and the group dropped to the ground to avoid the attack. Getting to his feet and grabbing his D-tector, Koichi growled, "I think that answers the question."

"Wait!" Teruo called after him.

But it was too late. Koichi had already evolved to Loewemon, and he was charging Beowolfmon. His staff was no match for the huge sword, however, and he was easily thrown to the ground. Beowolfmon raised his sword over his head to attack, but a pair of kicks struck him, powered by wind and rain.

"Are you okay?" Kazemon asked while Ranamon slid into an attack stance.

Instead of answering, Loewemon pushed his way past them. "Don't get involved. This is my fight."

Ranamon cynically raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. "Yours?"

But he didn't listen, charging past her to futilely attack again, prompting Kazemon to mutter, "How stubborn is he?"

"Scale of one to ten?" she quipped back.

But Loewemon was beyond listening to them. As attacks from everybody fired around him, he continued to engage Beowolfmon, completely oblivious to his own safety. His staff moved furiously, hoping speed would allow him to win where strength could not; strong as Beowolfmon's sword was, it was heavy and slow to move. He tried to move in past Beowolfmon's defenses, but Koji finally lost his patience and swung violently, forcing Loewemon back before he pulled his sword back the opposite way, catching his hands and knocking the staff away. Before Loewemon could counterattack, Beowolfmon blasted at him with his laser and rockets, sending him flying back.

"Koichi!" came the shouts from the others.

As Loewemon fell, the others all came to his aid. Agunimon, Kumamon, Kazemon, and Beetlemon formed a wall between them while the rest tried to help him stand.

"So, you're all standing against me now?" Beowolfmon demanded.

"We're trying to stop you from making a mistake," Beetlemon said.

"If you're trying to prevent mistakes, maybe you should be getting rid of him," Beowolfmon growled, pointing with his sword at Loewemon.

"Calm down," Agunimon tried to reason with him.

But before anything resembling sanity could settle in, Loewemon shouted, "You sound pretty sure of yourself for someone who's been lied to all of his life!"

Immediately, Grumblemon punched him, hissing, "Don't start."

But Loewemon wasn't in a reasonable mood. Ignoring his friends, he got to his feet and yelled, "No matter what I do, you just don't get it, do you?"

"And what do you want me to 'get,' Brother?" Beowolfmon taunted.

"Stop saying that like it doesn't mean anything!" Loewemon shouted.

It suddenly seemed a lot quieter than it had been before, and Agunimon and the others looked at each other with dawning comprehension.

"Wait," Agunimon said. "You don't mean…"

"Yes," Loewemon answered. "Everything he refuses to accept. Koji and I are twin brothers."

There were expressions of silent shock on the others' faces, and Ranamon asked, "You mean you didn't know? Ophanimon didn't…"

"Why would she?" Agunimon asked. Then, turning to Beowolfmon, he pointed out, "And you said you were an only child!"

"His father lied to him!" Loewemon argued. "Told him that he was an only child, told him that our mother was dead."

"If what you're saying is true, he's your father too," Beowolfmon spat. "And that means your mother lied to you too."

The truth hit a nerve deep within Koichi's soul, and with an animalistic growl, he charged, pushing past his friends as he grabbed his staff again and tackled Koji, pressing the shaft against his throat. He could feel several hands trying to pull him off, but he desperately struggled against them. More grabbed Koji, pulling him out from underneath Koichi, and Teppei's voice called out, "Get that idiot out of here! We'll handle ours!"

For a moment, Beowolfmon let the others help him out from under Loewemon, too stunned by the sudden fear of death to fight back. But after a moment, it began to dawn on him that he was in the hands of his enemies, and he pulled himself free. He grabbed Kazemon and held her close, pointing his missile launcher at the others.

"What are you doing?" Agunimon demanded. "We're trying to help you."

"I'd never take help from the likes of you!" Beowolfmon argued. "You're all traitors!"

"Not this again," Kazemon sighed, generating a whirlwind around herself.

Before Beowolfmon knew what was happening, the winds tore Kazemon out of his hands. Hovering in midair, she kicked him back, buying enough time for Beetlemon to zoom forward. As Kazemon leapt into the air to flip out of the way, Beetlemon slammed his electrified fists into Beowolfmon, sending a painful shock throughout his body.

"Not a smart move, picking on someone whose element is all around you," Beetlemon pointed out.

"It doesn't matter," Beowolfmon insisted. "I'm the child of the light, the very sun itself. Here, in my own element, I'm unstop—"

Before he could even finish that sentence, Agunimon surrounded himself in flames and kicked him in the face. Despite his greater power, Beowolfmon was thrown back a few feet as Agunimon bragged, "Wouldn't that mean I'm the child of the sun too? After all, something's got to burn to give off all that light."

"I'll show you burn," Beowolfmon growled, blasting more missiles at him.

As Agunimon's group began pulling Beowolfmon away, Loewemon fought against his friends to chase after him, but their grip was too tight. He fell to the ground, the others collapsing on top of him in a pile, holding him down. The combined pressure and his anger made it impossible to maintain his evolution, and he reverted to human form, the others doing the same so as not to hurt him, but they remained on top of him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Katsuharu shouted at him. "You really think that's how you're going to save him?"

"Let go!" Koichi yelled.

"Not until you calm down!" Teruo yelled back.

"You're out of control!" Chiaki added.

Koichi struggled to pull himself out from underneath them, but everybody had grabbed hold of something—his body, his arms, his legs. He pulled helplessly against them, but he couldn't get them to budge.

"Let me go! I have to…"

"Have to what?" Teppei challenged. "Break him again? Brilliant idea there, genius—make him even more of a psycho! It's not like we're having a hard time against him already."

Koichi was breathing sharply as he continued to struggle. Hearing the hitching breaths, Katsuharu knew exactly where to hit and asked, "What exactly was your plan, Koichi? Tell him that everything he's ever known was a lie and then just expect him to welcome you with open arms?"

"No…" Koichi answered, a slight tremble in his voice.

Refusing to let up, Katsuharu asked, "Then what? What do you want? Do you want a family? Do you want a happy ending? You're not going to get that if you don't fight for it, but you can't go and sabotage yourself like you're doing right now!"

"What are you afraid of?" Chiaki demanded.

When Koichi didn't answer, Katsuharu said, "You're afraid that he's right. Well guess what, he is. Your mom and grandma lied to you just as much as your dad lied to him."

"But it's not right!" Koichi cried.

He stopped resisting as he broke down into tears, his body shaking with sobs. Slowly, the others began to let go, and Katsuharu roughly picked him up and pulled him in close, and the others joined the hug.

"It's not fair," Koichi whispered between sobs.

"No, I'm afraid it's not," Bokomon said, walking over. He grabbed one of Koichi's legs and Neemon took the other while Patamon and Lopmon wrapped themselves around his neck.

"I just want…" Koichi whispered. "I'm so sick of it all."

"You've been through so much, without anyone asking you whether or not you wanted to take up these burdens," Bokomon sympathized. "But you've always carried on, just like the others."

"From the day we met, we've been there for you," Katsuharu said. "Yeah, you're going to have to get through this, just like Koji will. But you're not doing it alone. He might have given up on his friends, but we're not giving up on you."

"That goes for all of us," Teruo insisted.

The missiles never had the chance to hit Agunimon. Creating a frozen ramp ahead of him, Kumamon skied up and shot the missiles out of the air with his snowball launcher before leaping, transforming into an icicle to attack Beowolfmon. Beowolfmon managed to block the attack with his blade, but that left him open for Beetlemon to come up from behind and grab him, sending another electrical surge throughout his body. With Beowolfmon momentarily stunned by the attack, Beetlemon let go so Agunimon and Kazemon could attack with spinning kicks enhanced by their elements, their feet connecting at the same time to end him flying.

"Frozen Hunter!" Beowolfmon shouted.

As he lay on the ground, he summoned a wolf made of cold flame and light, sending it barreling toward the others. Flames spiraled around Agunimon's arms as he punched fireballs at it, aided by petaled whirlwinds from Kazemon, a snowstorm from Kumamon, and lightning strikes from Beetlemon. As the attacks struck, the wolf was thrown up on its hind legs, appearing to howl in agony before it finally died.

"Give up, Koji!" Agunimon argued.

But instead, Beowolfmon charged, swinging his sword. Barely managing to duck out of the way in time, Agunimon changed his evolution to BurningGreymon. Beowolfmon came at him with the sword again, but instead of dodging it, BurningGreymon grabbed it with his claws. As he struggled to push back the weight of the sword, now cutting through his talons, he powered up his blasters and began shooting flame bullets into Beowolfmon's face.

The unexpected attack forced Beowolfmon to drop his sword and stagger back, leaving him open prey for the others, now evolved to their Beast Spirit forms. Korikakumon lunged forward with his axes, and Zephyrmon backed him up with a cyclone of bladed wind. Korikakumon then turned, trapping Beowolfmon with his hair, holding him still for MetalKabuterimon to blast with an electrical shot from his cannon. Korikakumon let go just in time to avoid the hit, which dropped Beowolfmon to the ground, leaving him shaking, as BurningGreymon sent a tornado of fire his way.

As she watched from her castle, Ophanimon glared.

"That fool," she muttered. "His overconfidence has always been his weakness. I thought if I could control him, that would no longer be a problem, but…"

But a broken weapon was no longer of any use to her.

She focused her attention on Katsuharu and the others, seeing that Koichi had managed to recover. It no longer mattered to her what happened to Koji, but she could not allow the Warriors to become any stronger than they already were. If she could whittle them down from nine to four…

"Bakumon, attack!"

Koichi nodded at long last, and the group began to let go. As he wiped his eyes, he said, "Thanks. I guess I needed that."

"Yeah, well, we've all needed a good kick in the pants," Teppei said. "It was just your turn now."

Koichi managed a smile at Teppei as he kicked at his shin. Looking over at Katsuharu, he asked, "So, back to fighting Koji?"

But Katsuharu's eyes were on the castle, where a horde of Bakumon was advancing. "That might have to wait."

"Well, that explains where the Bakumon came from," Chiaki noticed.

"Be very careful!" Bokomon warned, already grabbing Neemon, Patamon, and Lopmon and running for cover among the flowers. "Don't get caught by the nightmares!"

"They have no idea what our nightmares are like," Koichi replied, his voice dark.

"Let's give them a surprise, then," Katsuharu agreed.

A dark cloud of nightmare came at them, but never once did they shy away from it. Without even going to their D-tectors, the Warriors faced the attack head on as the darkness swallowed them. They only held one another's hand, their eyes scanning the shadows.

Whispers of evil spoke in their minds all at once:

"You're nothing, worthless!" spoke a voice like Teruo's.

"You can never be trusted," insisted Chiaki's.

"Always a destroyer, bringing ruin to everything you touch," came Koichi's, low and menacing like Duskmon.

"Hardheaded, clown!" yelled Teppei's. "You're nothing but a joke to them!"

"Pushing them around like your own personal gang, knowing they hate you behind your back," sneered Katsuharu's.

"Can we shut them up now?" Teppei asked.

Chiaki threw a kick out into the darkness, striking a hidden Bakumon. "Thought you'd never ask."

All at once, the children let go of each other's hands and went into action, punching and kicking against the shapes in the darkness. Koichi's sympathy with the darkness had allowed them to pick out their silhouettes, and now that they knew where the Bakumon were, it was easy to fight them.

The Bakumon fell easily, too surprised by the kids' willingness to fight back in order to put up a decent defense. Streams of Fractal Code were generated as Ophanimon's control over them was broken. All at once, the five children scanned the streams, streaking the air with silver.

"Well, that was fun," Teppei said.

"Yep," Katsuharu agreed. "Let's go."

Globes of Fractal Code displayed on their hands, and immediately, they evolved with their Beast Spirits to join the others. As he blocked Beowolfmon's saber with one of his blasters, BurningGreymon asked, "So, did you get your head on straight?"

"Yeah," JagerLoewemon replied. "Him?"

"Not so much," MetalKabuterimon answered, throwing a pair of connected lightning globes at Beowolfmon.

"That's what we're here for," Sakkakumon replied as Beowolfmon leapt over the attack. Absorbing it in the correct sphere, he hurled it back at Beowolfmon, making it harder for him to dodge. The lightning just grazed him, making him growl in anger.

"It doesn't matter that there are nine of you now!" he cried. "I'll defeat you all!"

"You can try," JagerLoewemon challenged.

"Koichi…" Calmaramon warned, giving him a pointed glare as she swatted at Beowolfmon with her tentacles.

"No, I know," JagerLoewemon answered. "I was wrong before. I know that I'm not alone now. And Koji, that's the difference between me and you." He turned his head to look back at them. "They've never once let me down. No matter what happened with my family, no matter how much I feel like I was unwanted, I got what I needed. I got them."

There was a soft smile on Calmaramon's face and a bright grin on Sakkakumon's lips while Petaldramon nodded with a smile. Smirking, Gigasmon said, "All right, enough with the sappy stuff, Koichi. Let's do this."

At once, Gigasmon and Calmaramon began spinning, pounding into Beowolfmon. Petaldramon sent a Leaf Cyclone alongside Zephyrmon's Hurricane Gale, the twin cyclones tearing into him. In the midst of this, Korikakumon hurled his axes while BurningGreymon and MetalKabuterimon sent a swirling blaze of fire and lightning his way. The attacks hit, but Beowolfmon was too stubborn to stay down. He created another Frozen Hunter and sent it running toward the Warriors, but JagerLoewemon was ready. He charged into it with a Dark Master, and the shadow and light collided into one another, crackling around his body. Before it could do any harm to JagerLoewemon, Sakkakumon absorbed the attack, giving everyone the chance to evacuate. When he could no longer hold the combining forces, Sakkakumon hurled it back at Beowolfmon, and it exploded violently.

The combined assault was enough. Beowolfmon leaned heavily on his sword, trying to stand, but Fractal Code soon enveloped him. He devolved, and losing his support, he fell to his knees.

"I lost," he murmured in shock. "I can't…" He looked up, and there was something close to clarity in his eyes. "Everyone…"

"We haven't betrayed you," BurningGreymon insisted. "You're still our friend."

"You've always got a place with us too," Petaldramon added. "As long as you're willing to take it."

"But," Koji protested, fighting the creeping insanity. The Bakumon had been destroyed, but the spell was still in place, held by Ophanimon's own power. "But my mother…"

"Is alive and well, if you've been listening to Koichi any," Calmaramon pointed out.

"And I'm sure she'd love to meet you," Sakkakumon agreed.

"But if you're talking about Ophanimon, let me ask you something," Gigasmon challenged. "Where is she? Why didn't she help out her beloved son?"

"I'm right here," Ophanimon replied.

The burning angel hovered behind them, looking upon them like a scornful god. Koji whirled around, an expression of hope on his face. But before he could even say the words, Ophanimon turned her glare on him.

"You lost."

Koji's hope turned into shock. "But I…"

"Worthless," she argued, cutting him off. "Not once have you managed to defeat them. And you with your Fusion Evolution, and they only with their Beast Spirits."

"But I tried…."

Ophanimon held up one hand, glowing with hellfire and unholy light. "You have failed me for the last time."

She hurled a beam of flame and light at him, but before anyone else could intervene, JagerLoewemon had leapt into it. The power crackled around him, trying to use his natural ability to fuse with the darkness of his Spirit, but the fire threw him off and the power of the corrupted light itself was too strong. Tiles exploded away from him, the energy shattering like glass as Koichi dropped to the ground, unmoving.

"Koichi!"

Koji heard the shouts from everyone around him, but all he could register was the cold feeling of dread as it sank in just what had happened. Fearfully, he reached for the fallen Warrior and shook him.

"Koichi? Koichi!"

This chapter's title is actually the motto of my college, and it translates to "the truth shall make you [plural you] free." A lot of the friendship moments in this were inspired by the various interactions and befriending moments of the Kamen Rider Club in Kamen Rider Fourze, with a touch of Dillon's "I have new memories" speech from the Power Rangers RPM episode "Blitz" (and Ophanimon basically quotes Venjix's favorite line, because I'm a dork). The Bakumon scene was really going to be an entire chapter itself in the original ideas I had, where everyone would be saved farther before the finale, and Takuya and everybody would awaken the others from their nightmares, but I think this is actually a little more powerful: showing that these guys are over their issues at long last. Also, it gave me a chance to basically steal from the Justice League vs. Justice Lords segment from the JLU episode "Divided We Fall," since Nightmare Teppei is more or less quoting Lord Flash. The final scene with Koichi sacrificing himself is pretty much based on Koji's similar sacrifice to save Takuya against Duskmon in episode 21.