A/N: The long awaited return of the Notorious… P. A. T. Love and be loved. Read… and review!

Our War Game (Is Over)

When I wake up tomorrow morning… the greatest finish to any play ever written will be under way. I will be fighting myself in ways I never imagined. Rika wants to die and I saw today that I can't kill her… but what choice do I have left? The Darkness will kill both of us if I fail. Tomorrow may very well be my final day on earth… perhaps now might be a good time to take… inventory? Outpowered. Outnumbered. Out of our minds. On a suicide mission. But the sands and rock here, stained with thousands of years of warfare… they will remember us. For this. Because out of all our vast array of nightmares, this is the one we choose for ourselves. We go forth like a breath exhaled from the earth. With vigor in our hearts and one goal in sight:

We.

Will.

Kill him.

But to kill him, I first have to kill myself. The final act begins tomorrow and with the rising sun so shall the curtain be raised on a most tumultuous show. The battle for the digital world has only just begun, and I will lead my cavalry into an assault the likes the Darkness has never seen. I will go forth into this war with the desire and courage with which no one else can fight. I will be unrelenting. I will go forth and rescue Rika and Henry and Ryo. Only I can save them and the rest of the digital world from the Darkness. Only I, because it was only I who created this mess. Born from the vengeance against me because I defeated the D-Reaper… empowered by my fears, tears, anger and depression… manipulating me … intruding on my thoughts… knowing my every move… enslaving my closest friends in their own bodies…destroying everything about the digital world that I have ever known and loved. This will go no further. The Darkness must be stopped and it is only I who can stop him.

I go to sleep in the hope that while I dream… Rika will guide me through this nightmare… so that when I wake… I will guide Rika from her nightmare.

"What do you think she's going through?"
What… what's that voice? I hear it… and it's so close… but…
"Intense pain, I'd bet. She'd probably rather be dead but she gave it her all…"
What! Another voice? Who else is here?
"…I owe my life to her… and now we might never be able to repay her…"
What? What's going on? I fly open my eyes and am greeted by the sight of Ri-

"Hello, Takato." Ryo says softly to me.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it, old buddy?" Henry adds.

I stare in disbelief as my two pals stand in front of me, and smile. The wind blows their hair around and I am at a loss for words, but the thought I can conjure up is—

"Rika can't come here anymore, Takato." Henry says quietly.
"What! Why not?" I ask them immediately.
"She's grown too weak. She doesn't have enough willpower left to break free of her chains and race to your dreams. She wanted us to come for her so we could give you her message." Henry solemnly says.

"But wait… does that mean—"
"She is alive." Ryo interjects.
"But—"
"She's going to be fine, damn it, Takato, shut up! We need to relay this message to you before our time runs up as well and if we don't get it to you then it will all be for naught!" Henry exclaims.

I shut my mouth immediately and try to stop my thoughts from straying, remembering that, as Rika pointed out on several occasions, somehow they can hear my thoughts. I can't lose her… whatever they have to tell me must be extremely important and I can't let the fear of losing Rika drive the importance of their appearance out of my mind.

"Rika wanted us to first convey and emphasize her previous message; Takato… you must kill us." Ryo explains.

My eyes fly wide open and my minds begins to race but before I can ask a question, Henry gives me a stern look and I know that I would do myself better to shut up and keep listening. "We don't know what's going to happen when you kill us… but you have to defeat The Darkness and all of us are playing a role in his plans. As long as we live, our bodies stand in between you and him and that will simply not do. We have to be taken out… you don't have a choice anymore. Kill us and then defeat The Darkness."

Ryo stops talking and I just stare in disbelief… everything that he's saying is…

"So true. I know. You can't resist anymore. You can't hold back. Can't pull your punches… can't do anything. You have to act. You have to fight. You have to kill us. It's the only way." Ryo commands of me.

"But… what if I can't?"

He smiles and shakes his head at me, "Don't be a fool. You can do it. We know you can. I know you can, at least. You've been kicking my ass out there, and I've never been happier."

I give him a big smile and am not sure exactly what to say, but he interjects, "I just keep rooting you on while you throw ChaosJustimon around. I know you wanna kill me, so just follow through. But don't underestimate him… he's been pulling his own punches this whole time, trying to lull you into a false sense of security when you battle him. He wants you to think you can kill him easily when you can't really. Just…" he pauses, perhaps looking for the right words, "when you have him down for the count… finish me. I don't want to continue fighting you… he hurts me… it pains me to watch you strain yourself against Justimon and myself when you shouldn't have to deal with it."

He smiles at me and I stare back him with a determined look on my face, "Make me the first to go."
"What!" I say, surprised.

"Kill me first. Of the three of us… I want you to promise that I will be the first to go. Start with the best and work your way down, ya know?" he says with a wink.
I smile and laugh a bit at his wink but say, "I don't know if I can promise that… I've made a lot of dumb promises to Rika and"
"It doesn't matter. Eventually you're gonna follow through with those promises. You can do it, and I… we, believe in you."

I stare at him and try and size him up. How do you respond when someone tells you to kill them? When someone defiantly tells you that murdering them is in your own best interest? I don't know if I have what it takes to take a life… what if they don't come back? What if they're gone forever?

"Don't worry about any of that, Takato. Just make me proud."

I smile but am uncertain. "Alright, well my part is finished. I'm gonna head back so hopefully I can have some willpower for the next trip. Good luck you two, and keep a keen ear to what Henry he has got to say, Takato." He says to me before suddenly taking a step forward and wrapping his arms around me in a hug.

Out of shock I don't return the embrace, but I suppose that's alright since he can read my mind. He let's go, gives Henry a nod and then turns around and begins to walk away and for the first time I take notice of my surroundings. I looked down towards the ground and far below us was a castle with a moat and surrounding the castle was a black desert. "Scary, isn't it?"

I looked up at Henry, who was also observing the scene below. My mind races as I stare down at the scene. What could this all possibly mean? I just don't—"Understand, Takato, that what you are looking at right now is shared with the Darkness. Your visions are somehow intermingled with what the Darkness is thinking. You are the Darkness, never forget that. He is everything that you are not. But you share a bond with him. By some strange way… your minds are connected. Somehow… somehow this castle and this moat and this desert are going to play a part in what will unfold."

My mind begins to race again but I try to shut it down because I know I need to listen to what Henry has to say. "I don't have any answers for you. I just know what I know… that this is all going to be important in the next chapter of your battle with the Darkness. But… ugh, Takato…" he trails off.

He looks a bit distraught. He looks like what he wants to say won't come out in words. "I am… so sorry that all of this has had to happen. If only… there's just so much that we… I could have done to prevent this."

"There's nothing you could have done, Henry. I feel like this whole trip back to the digital world… it was all a trap set up by the Darkness. Like you said, somehow he and I are connected… maybe the very adventure… the ideas, the plans the everything… maybe it was all him telling me how to go about it, just so these specific events could take place."

He looks very upset now. He stares out into space and after a few seconds' shakes his head at his thoughts. I can't imagine what he's putting himself through. The mental beating he's giving himself. He shouldn't be so worried about this. This is my battle, not his. I don't know what to say to him. "You don't need to say anything, Takato. It's not your fault that this all happened. But you need to understand, that you didn't start this… but you have to be the one to finish this. It's up to you to find a way to defeat the Darkness. And Rika and Ryo… they're right. You need to kill us. It's the only way. It's the only way."

We stare for a few seconds, eye to eye. I never want to break my gaze with him. I stare into the windows to his soul and I want to dive into them. He wants to help me so bad, but there is nothing he could say nor do for me. I understand. I'm starting to see it now… it's up to me. I have to be the one. I have to do this. For them. For Rika. For the entire Digital World… for myself.

The sky becomes overcast and the all too familiar feeling sets in. I can feel myself being swept away, but my body remains in the same place, staring into the Henry's eyes. "Takato… I believe in you. You can do it."

I nod my head. I feel the pulling. I close my eyes. When I open them again, I am in my tent. I sit up and look around, fully awake and knowing completely what is to come about. I feel fresh. I feel alive. I slowly climb out of my tent into the night. I look around at the army that surrounds me. I look at all of them. I know…

This is it!

The morning blasts through the darkness. As norm in the digital world, there is no sunrise but only a swift change in the skyline from night to morning. I can feel it coming in the air… I can feel the momentum shifting from side to side… this is our war… this is ours! I will not be defeated by the Darkness. He is me and I am him. I will destroy him to free Rika and Henry and Ryo.

The image of Ryo smiling at me and winking, telling me it was all alright. That he was okay with me killing him. He was so brave. I would answer this call. I would. I will. I am.

Buzzing. Everything is buzzing. Everyone is buzzing.

It's now a few hours since daybreak, and as I stare out into the horizon everyone is coming alive. The rumblings across camp are a mixture of many different emotions. Excitement over the victory yesterday. Mourning for lost family and friends. Fear from the first close up encounter of any kind with The Darkness. Most were so convinced that I would die that they are still in disbelief of Beezelmon's heroics that just merely saved me. There's just a large mixture of different emotions revolving yesterdays events. But tensions are running high. Everyone is wired after what happened and they're all well aware how close they came to death with The Darkness so close and so close to killing me.

I break my gaze on the horizon and look to find Impmon, looking disconcerted and making a Beeline straight for me. As he gets within earshot he says to me, "We need to talk…"

Talk? Talk about what? He seems almost worried about whatever it is. What could possibly have him discomforted right now? He walks right past me and I turn heel to follow him. We get about 10 feet away and he stops in his tracks, climbs on top of a rock and turns tail to face me. "We have a problem."

A problem? "What's wrong?"

He looks bothered by what he has to say, but continues on, "What happened yesterday?"
"What do you mean what happened? You saw what I saw." I say defensive, as if he is accusing me of something but he didn't really, did he?
"Takato, you have to be real with me… did you or do you have a helping hand in The Darkness's plans to destroy our world."
"What are you trying to say, Impmon?" I almost yell at him.
"I'm saying that me and everyone else here saw two of you yesterday and one of them is trying to destroy our world!" He thunders back.

"And the other one is trying to save your world! And Rika! And Henry! And RYO!" I finally give in and start yelling at him, as the image of Ryo's face in my dream comes flashing back to me.

"The one thing I have been fighting for years now, running from, going to war with is you! I've been plotting strategies and putting every on the line to fight YOU!"
"No! You've been fighting The Darkness, not me!"
"But you heard him, HE is YOU!"
"Stop it. I am not him. This conversation is over." I say, turning to walk away.

"NO!" He yells demonically and a fire burst up in front of me! I fall backwards away from it and watch it circle the two of us.

I turn around to see his eyes lit up in blackness. I twist around and stand back up, before saying, "Impmon… you don't want to do this. Not with me. Not now."

His eyes stop glowing black and he stares at me with fury, "We have lost… so much… fighting you… because of you!"

"Impmon… relax," I say, putting my arms up in a sign of peace, knowing he's in over his head right now, "Listen… you've put up a hell of a fight and you've come a long way and now we're almost at the end. Just hang on a little longer."

"If I have to kill you to kill him I will."

"What…"

"I'll kill you."

There is a long silence between the two of us as we stare at one another. My mouth hangs open as he continues to stare with a sense of unquenchable fury. He's seeing red. "BADDA BOOM!"

I fly backwards, hit the sand and my chest is on fire! "Ahh! Ahhh! Get it off! Help! Help!" I roll around trying to suffocate the flames and extinguish the fire. He blasted me right onto my ass and set me on fire!

I put it out and stand up looking at him horrified. He stares at me, still seeing red. Before I know what's happening we are surrounded by the digidestine and an assortment of high ranking digimon. As others slowly push us away from each other I continue to stare him in the eyes with insecurity as the anger in his eyes is unmoving. He saved my life… and now he wants to destroy me.

With everything that's just happened between Impmon and myself, I've all but forgot what happened in my dream with Ryo and Henry. What had he said? That I need to kill them, and Ryo wants to be the first to go. And Henry… what had he said about that scene… it was a castle with a moat and a black desert surrounding it. What could that all mean? He said that my mind is connected with the Darkness and somehow everything I saw in that scene is significant. Think about it… castle… moat… black desert. Well, I think I have a pretty good idea of what the black desert is, but what about the rest of it? The castle and the moat? Well the moat surrounds the castle and the desert surrounds the moat, so maybe at the center of the Valley of the Shadows is a castle with a moat?

No, that's too easy. What could it be? Fuck. I have no idea and if I can't figure it out then we're all doomed!

"Takatomon!"
I look up and Guilmon is trotting over to me. "Hey, boy. What's up?"
"Someone wants to speak to you!"
"Not now, boy, I'm trying to focus…"
"But it's Metalseadramon…"
"I told you, Guilmon…" Metalseadramon. Metal Sea Dragon Monster. Sea. Ocean. Water. Moat.

I stare wide eyed. I look right past Guilmon and stare at Metalseadramon, off in the distance. I slowly start to stand up and then lurch forward and go into an all-out-sprint for Metalseadramon, as if he was in danger of disappearing to being destroyed before I could get there. "Metalseadramon!"

He snaps his giant head to look at me, "Yes, Takato Matsuda, what is it?"

"You said yesterday that you and your troops came as soon as you could?" I ask, waiting for him to affirm exactly what I'm thinking.
"That we did, and it is my sincerest apologies we could not arrive sooner."
"And that implies that you had a long distance to cover?" I continue on, ignoring his apology.
"Why, yes, we did. We came all the way from the Western Region as quickly as we could."

Western Region? What does that even mean? "Ahh… ahh… but… wait, what? What do you mean Western Region?"

"You freed us, Takato Matsuda." He says sincerely.
I stare up at him blankly. Freed him? Freed him? "What?"
"You surely must know. How could you not?"
"Enlighten me." I say quickly, my curiosity ravishing my mind.

"Well, we were part of the Lightness Army before we were overrode by The Darkness' walls and then we all became pawns in his plans. Then you pushed the walls back and set us free. Without that, we'd still be under his control and at his mercy. How did you not know that you freed us?"

Pushed the walls back… That's happened twice since we arrived. It happened when we fought off BlackWargreymon and ChaosJustimon the first time and then again, just last night! When Beezelmon sent The Darkness packing. But Metalseadramon and his army have been here since we fought BlackSakuyamon, so it had to have happened after the first time they were pushed back. So whom did we free last night?

Castle and Moat!

"Wait, Metalseadramon, where did you come from? Was there water there? Or a castle?"

He laughs for a second or two. What's so funny? "You would think that, wouldn't you? That I, a Metalseadramon, would come from water but ahh, no, no, nothing of the sort. And no castles for that matter either. Why do you ask, Takato Matsuda?"

"Oh, um, no reason." I say weakly. No water? No castle? How could that be?
"To answer your question, however, we came from the Western Regions but specifically King Gallant's City."
My neck nearly breaks as I sharply shoot my gaze to look at him, "King Gallant's City? What is that?"

"Well, it is named after you. It was where Guilmon crash landed back in the Digital World after his battles with the D-Reaper in your world. Over the years a city was built around it and named after the hero of the war against the D-Reaper. It just so happens, as well, that Guilmon's Ground Zero was the remnants of an old kingdom belonging to an Seraphimon many, many years before. That is why the "King" part stuck in the cities title."

"Perfect! Thank you! That's all I needed to know!" I yell as I turn tail and run.
"But I never thanked you for welcoming us into your army!" He calls after me.
"You don't have to!" I yell back to him.

King Gallant's City. Named after Guilmon, who crash-landed in King Seraphimon's former kingdom and then a city was built upon it. So that's the castle, and I know what the black desert was, so now we just have to figure out what the water stands for and then we're in perfect position to go knocking down the Darkness' door.

I stare deep into Impmon's eyes for the 2nd time today, although this time with protection in case he has another outburst as Jeri, Kazu, Kenta and Suzy stand around me, along with Guilmon, MarineAngemon, Guardromon and Lopmon. "So, as you can see the only thing that's missing is the moat. The water. Where is the closest water? I'm willing to bet that wherever it is, we freed that area last night."

"You are so sure that this isn't a trap." He spits back.
"How could it be?" I retort.

"If you really are connected to the Darkness' mind, then who says he can't see into your mind and play with that as well? If you can look into his mind and know what's going on in there then where is the authority in your dreams telling you he can't see into your mind and plan accordingly? How do you know he didn't plant that image into your mind to set a trap he's just waiting to spring on all of us?"

"I… don't know." I have no answers for him. I can't respond to that.

"Then why are we rushing to get to an abandoned city and the closest body of water?"

"Because… it's the only thing we've got to go off of! And if it is a trap then let's walk into it. Let's face this thing head on, let's take his best shot and beat it! If it is a trap then let's spring it and then break it."

"That's the worst idea ever." He says.

"Then you come up with a better one. Go on. You spent years fighting this thing and only lost more and more. But since we arrived we've at least fought back."
"I lost hundreds of thousands of good digimon because of you!" He says, a mix of anger and sadness in his eyes.
"And we're going to save them!" I yell back.

There is a long silence between the two of us as everyone just stares at the battle that is brewing in front of their very eyes. "Takato is right, Impmon," Jeri interjects. "But if we're actually going to defeat the Darkness then we're going to need your help."

He looks at her with a curios expression, as if he's accepting what she says but his mind is thinking something else. "There's a lake of water to the East of here and I noticed last night that the walls moved that way so your dream would make sense."

"Yes! Perfect, let's get everybody ready then!" I say, turning to walk away
"Not so fast." He stops me.

I turn back around slowly. "What?"

"I refuse for what's left of the Lightness Army to be lead into an ambush. Only Takato and I will travel to King Gallant's City."

"No way!" Kazu exclaims.
"Forget about, Impmon. That's not happening!" Kenta declares.
"Impmon, don't you think that's asking a bit much? Especially after today's outburst." Jeri tries to reason with him.

"No, Jeri, I don't think it is too much to ask." I say.

Everyone turns and stares at me. "You're not going to trust me," I say to Impmon, "until I've proven myself again."
No one says anything. They just stares at the war we are waging with our eyes. "We'll go to King Gallant's City. Just you and me, and we'll figure out what's there for us. No one else will come with us. Just you and me."

The silence between us is suffocating. I think would rather have him trying to kill me than have us not saying anything like this. We've been walking on this road for a long time now, Beezlemon and I but we can see the city on the horizon now. No one objected to us going it alone, but there was some uncertainty as to who would lead the journey to the water to the east and ultimately Kazu was given the reigns. I look at Beezlemon and his determined gaze is on the city. It is quite an industrial city; skyscrapers touching the heavens, paved roads clearly panning across city, I feel like we're walking into New York City or more like Las Vegas because we are traveling through a desert to reach the seemingly deserted city.

We reach the first few buildings and I can't handle this silence anymore, "This is just eerie. It shouldn't be this quiet in a city like this."
Beezlemon scoffs and says, "You seem surprised. This city's been under Darkness captivity for months now. I would be more concerned if there was someone here."
That makes sense and I nod in agreement. "What exactly are you trying to find here?" He asks me as we traverse the city streets.
What am I trying to find here? "I'm not sure. But there's something here. I know it."
"That's dangerously unspecific." He responds, looking at me sideways as we cross an intersection.
"I understand that, but there is something here for us. There has to be."
We go on a little bit without saying anything, not really searching the city just slowly marching through it. Looking around, it's hard to imagine there's anything for us. And even if there is, where could it be? Inside one of the buildings? Buried in a bedroom somewhere? What are we doing here?
We venture onward and eventually come to a stop in the center of a large intersection of eight streets. Beezlemon turns to me and says, "How will you know when we find it?"
There is a trust in his voice for the first time and a reassuring feelings sweeps over me, "When we find it."

"Well, I believe you've found it." An ominous, distant voice calls out.

That voice! We both turn to look around searching for the source but it's nowhere to be found. BOOM!
The granite flies up in my face and clouds my vision as Beezlemon's face is lost in the dust. Suddenly, however, I see his black claws slicing through the dust and then with one swoop he flushes it all out. I look down at the ground and in the small space laying between him and I is where the blast had landed. Why blow up the space between us? Why not try to kill us?

I look up into the sky and BlackWargreymon is standing on top of a nearby building, smirking at us. I shake my head at him, "You always come back for more."

He seems pissed off at this. He lifts his claw up and before I know it a blast of red and black is zipping towards me. I dodge it to my left and over my shoulder I see a black ball of energy go zooming at him. He simply throws up his hand and deflects the blast off into the distance. It strikes a skyscraper in the distance and an explosion in the upper half of it goes off when he takes off.

BUGH! I double over as he buries his fist in my gut. I stagger backwards but recover and thrust my lance at him.

He dodges it slightly to his right and lifts his arm up and traps my lance against his body. He pulls on the lance and I involuntarily fall forward towards him and he buries his fist this time in my face.

I fall to the ground all I see are BlackWargreymon's feet moving away, towards where Beezlemon was standing. I stop rolling, and go to one knee in time to see Beezlemon fending off BlackWargreymon with an 'X' made of his arms. They exchange blows quickly and I go to help but BlackWargreymon senses me coming, turns and delivers a blow to my chest! I go flying backwards and land on my back. I watch as he returns to fist fighting Beezlemon. I shake off some of the pain and look at my shield. Suddenly the idea dawns on me. I lift up my shield so that it sits in my lap and whisper, "Shield of the Just!"

It charges up but before it can take off BlackWargreymon knocks Beezlemon down to the ground! He turns to face me and see the shield. His eyes light up as he realizes what's coming. He spins around quickly again, though, grabs Beezlemon by the leg, then spins back around—

NO! The blast takes off BlackWargreymon throws Beezlemon at me! The blast envelopes Beezelmon and BlackWargreymon goes diving out of the way.

He rolls around and then stands back up while Beezlemon is blown through several buildings that all come crashing down. I look at BlackWargreymon who is watching Beezlemon like a work of art. That fucking bastard! I launch myself at him and just as he turns around to face me, I'm upon him! We tumble to the ground and tussle before I end up on top of him. He fights helplessly under the weight of my body. I enjoy this moment very briefly before punching him in mouth twice. He uses all of his strength and throws me off of him. I fall on my back and kick back up to a standing on my knees. But BlackWargreymon is upon me this time, pushing me back onto my back, grabbing me from my armpits and throwing me into the air. I fly helplessly into the air and stare as he throws a blast my way. It hits me dead on like he's skeet shooting.

The pain is strong but nothing I haven't dealt with before. I go flying into a building! This pain is much worse than the actual blast I absorbed. I stop falling probably halfway through the building, in the middle of someones living room? What? No one lives here, not digimon at least? This is so strange? No time to waste!

I launch myself out of the building through the part of the building I had flown through. I climb out the building and Beezlemon is back but BlackWargreymon is handling him. He beats him down with blows to the back of the head and then stands over his body. He picks him up with one hand and holds him up, lifeless. He swiftly retracts his arm and then throws him sky high. "NOOOOOO!" I scream and jump out of the building, headed straight for BlackWargreymon.

He turns ever so slowly towards me.

Everything seems to be moving in slow motion.

I reach out for him, screaming with fury.

He lifts his claw up to me.

No blast comes out.

A wave of air comes howling from his outturned hand.

I feel like I've just been swooped into a hurricane.

My body is thrown asunder and I am tossed away like a rag doll.

What was that?

The memory immediately returns to me…

Slowly time returns to normal. I sit back up immediately. I feel so empty now. He just has so much power. We need to find a way of neutralizing that. Someway. Somehow. No time to rest, I immediately push back into the battle, throwing myself out of the building, although this time letting myself fall to the ground first. I land on my feet and the ground around me cracks. BlackWargreymon and Beezlemon are having a stare down from a few hundred feet away. My landing draws his attention as he turns his head to look at me. The silence between the three of us is scary. There seems to be an acceptance of the fact that we're going to have a real bloodbath on our hands. BlackWargreymon will not leave this city. I will not allow it. I turn to Beezlemon and our eyes meet for a brief second and we speak through that. We take of simultaneously for him!

Very swiftly BlackWargreymon flips the shield off his back. He turns to me, being closer, and I crash my fist into his shield. He lifts the shield up and delivers a kick to my chest which sends me backwards. As I fall back I watch as he spins away from Beezlemon's fist, but then spins behind him and wraps him in his arms, with the shield out in front. I jump back up and rush at him. He turns Beezlemon, and thus his shield, to face me and I crash my elbow into the shield. But then lets go and I fall into Beezlemon and we are clumsily tied together but I can see over is shoulder to BlackWargreymon.

He throws his shield onto the ground and sticks out his claw, yelling "Dark War Blast!"

No. No more of this bullshit. I hug Beezlemon and spin us away from the blast, which blows up the entire building behind us. I let go of Beezlemon and he tackles BlackWargreymon! I rush to his side and draw his sidearm. BlackWargreymon struggles mightily under the weight of Beezlemon, but can't budge him. I point the handgun at his head and he stares up at me. His eyes turn from yellow to red then bla—

BOOM!

everything

is moving

in slooooooo

it's so dusty.

so dark. What just happened? I look at my crumbled armor and my surroundings are all smashed up. I crane my neck and find Beezlemon laying on his back near by. What… what just happened?

I am pulled off my feet and come face to face with an enraged BlackWargreymon. He stares wildly into my eyes, "DID YOU REALLY THINK IT WOULD BE THAT EASY?"

I spit in his face. "I'm gonna kill you…"

He shakes this off and looks even more furious, "Your going to kill me? Really, now?"

I need to stall for time. I look over at Beezlemon, clearly still incapacitated but his eyes are open and he's looking at us, helpless. I nod in his direction nonetheless and BlackWargreymon falls for the gimmick. He hesitates for a moment and then turns his head to look at the motionless Beezlemon. Once he has turned his head I break his grip on my collar with my fist. As I land back on my feet I bury a fist into his chest. He slightly doubles over and I swing my elbow into his helmet, cracking it severely. I can't let up, can't relent. I grab him by his shoulders, yank him towards me and I headbut him! It shoots searing pain into my own head but it's worth it because it clearly disorients him. I take a step forward and throw my fist into his head. This time he falls back and onto his stomach. Be unrelenting. I don't know what he did to stop me from shooting him earlier but I don't have time to think about it. I pick him up by his waist, lift him up into the air, over my head, beyond my head, until I can't hold him anymore and I fall backwards and I supplex him. He lands on his head and I land on my back. I turn around and he's laying in a heap on the ground. I grab him and lift him again and flip him around and throw him back down onto his back.

Be unrelenting. I stoop low and straddle his upper torso, pinning his arms down. I look back at Beezlemon, who is finally coming out of his weak state and getting back up. I turn back to BlackWargreymon, who is still weak from all the headshots. Be unrelenting. These words continue to echo in my mind, I can't let this get away. I bury my right fist into his head and it slugs away, his neck twisting with it. I pull his head back and this time my left fist. Pull back. Right fist. Pull back. Left fist. Pull back.

He darts his eyes up at me and they turn from yellow to red to black. I feel his whole body growing hot suddenly. He just did this…

I jump off of him and throw myself at Beezlemon and pull him away. I watch as BlackWargreymon's body literally explodes with black and violet energy in a large area around him. He must have blown us back with that, that's what happened before. After that we stand back for a second. His body withers for a moment before he seems to recover. Be unrelenting. I rush forward, grab him by the back of the neck and shove his head back into the ground to try and paralyze him for a little longer. He lies there, motionless again. I turn to Beezlemon, who rushes forward. I pick BlackWargreymon up and toss him, lifelessly, into Beezlemon's waiting arms. He holds him tight and I deliver a few blows to his chest. Now abdomen. Chest. Abdomen. Chest. Head. Head. Abdomen.

But he breaks Beezlemon's grip and delivers a shot to my head. I twist away but as I turn back I see Beezlemon kicking his legs out from underneath him! I recover and return to see Beezlemon picking up BlackWargreymon by the back and quite literally launching him into the sky! He goes flying a couple of hundred feet away and comes crashing down in the middle of the street. "Why'd you do that?"

Beezlemon exhausted but as if it's obvious, "So we can gather ourselves again."

I'm not sure what he means until it dawns on me that I don't have my lance or shield and he's not only missing his side arm but his large gun as well. I turn to my shield, lying a few feet away. I walk over to pick it up and Beezlemon picks up his sidearm. We both turn back to check on BlackWargreymon

Oh no. He stands tall, staring down the street at us. What is he waiting for… if he's ready to attack, why isn't he coming for us?

He throws his hands up in front of him.

He slowly moves them so that they are extended far out to his left and right.

He flips them so we can see his exposed claws.

He raises his head to look at us, his eyes dark yellow.

Something awful is about to happen. Something terrible. Something is going to happen. I push the shield to in front of us and bury it into the ground.

Here it comes. I grab Beezlemon by the forearm and pull him to my side and down to under the shields protection…

"Death Cymbal!"

The last thing I see are him bringing his arms together as one would do with a cymbal instrument. I bring us both so we are protected by the shield.

Total destruction appears before my eyes. Waves of black energy soars into the city around us. Every window blows out. The buildings all simultaneously collapse. It is complete desolation. The city is on fire. …unheard of attacks, which are rumored to be so devastating, they leave miles of digital villages and cities in ruins…

So this is what he meant. Death Cymbal? The sound waves from the clash sounds out nothing but death. Unreal. I wonder what else he has, besides the normal BlackWargreymon attacks? "Ready?"

I look at Beezlemon, almost forgetting he had been next to me. I nod and we turn to face our foe. He is slowly walking towards us I have nothing until he gets close enough. I feel like using my shield will be a mistake. Beezlemon gets on one knee, his body being mostly protected by the shield. He holds out his handgun and

BOOM!

He fires a shot and it hits BlackWargreymon in the shoulder but it doesn't even faze him. He just keeps slowly walking towards us, ominously appearing ready to kill us.

BOOM! BOOM!

BOOM!

Three more shots! Beezlemon is giving him all that he's got! Two of the shots hit BlackWargreymon in his chest and the third one misses. He must be aiming for his head?

BOOM!

This one misses again. He turns to me and yells out, "DAMNIT! I don't have anymore shots!"

What? That doesn't make any sense, his sidearm holds 6 shots, that was only 5. Does he know he has anymore? He suddenly throws his gun away! No! What is he doing? BlackWargreymon is still marching towards us. I don't know what to do! This is basically a fist fight with a SUPER Mega Digimon! We can't beat him if he's got all these attacks. "Beezlemon, we need to get out of here. We need to live to fight another day, because we don't stand a chance right now!"

"I'm going after him! Watch his back!" He says back to me.

WHAT? What is he doing? Wait… watch his back? What? What's going on?

Beezlemon runs out from behind the shield, fists raised at BlackWargreymon! I stand up and take a few steps out from behind the shield.

He gets within a few seconds, his right fist raised.

He goes to bring it down.

BlackWargreymon grabs his elbow with his left hand.

He delivers a blow to Beezlemon's head, who staggers

but BlackWargreymon pulls him back towards him and

he finally uses his Wargreymon claws and shoves them through Beezlemon. No. Please… no.

He immediately goes lifeless. BlackWargreymon puts his claw at his side and Beezlemon's motionless body just slides right off the blade sharp claws. He's dead on the spot. He killed him. He killed him. HE KILLED HIM.

An uncontrollable rage overcomes me. I run full force at him and he continues his slow march towards me, almost not noticing me! He's going to fucking DIE!

I throw my fist into his chest. He just stops moving. I bury another one into his gut and then chest and gut, back and forth and he just watches me. I look up into his eyes. We stare for one single moment and I see the BlackAugmon, walking me around the Valley of the Shadows. I see him. I see it. I see no fear. I see a machine. A monster.

He lifts his right claw up into the air.

He brings it down onto my shoulder and I feel the weight of the world come crashing down on me. I fall into a heap on the floor. I look up at him. He smirks down at me. He reaches down and picks me up by the neck and lifts my helpless body so he can stare me in the eyes. "I've been waiting for you for a very long time. I've been waiting for this moment for even longer!"

I look down at his claw as he slowly traces my abdomen. The idea of being eviscerated is horrifying… and there is nothing I can do to stop him. I look back into his eyes and he stares at me, so happy. That malicious look. Those eyes. He narrows them…

"UGH…"

I look down. Cut open. The black claw slices through the digital flesh. BlackWargreymon. Cut open. He… he's been cut open. Right through his abdomen, the black claw of Beezlemon cuts through him!

I look over his shoulder and there's Beezlemon, who then reaches out with his free arm and wraps it around BlackWargreymon's neck, drawing him closer and thus shoving his claw in deeper. He lets go of me and I land on my feet, left in shock as I stare at Beezlemon's claw sticking through BlackWargreymon's chest, identical to how he cut Leomon open all those years ago. "GO! Go, get the gun!"

Suddenly it dawns on me. He yelled that he had been out of shots. Throwing the gun. Going out before me so he could be behind him. I look over to my right and just a few feet away is his side arm. I sprint back and forth and before I know what's happening, I'm standing before BlackWargreymon who, it seems, can't even move. I put the gun up to his head… and then I catch Beezlemon's eye.

I pull the gun down and put it at my side. I grab BlackWargreymon by the shoulder and throw him down onto the ground. There is data from his midsection is streaming upwards, as he sits on his knees. I look at Beezlemon, confused at what has just happened. "You want this more than I do."

He nods his head. He takes the gun out of my hand and puts it to the back of BlackWargreymon's head. "You killed a lot of my men. Now I'm going to kill you."

"And I enjoyed killing every single one of them. And you can't kill me. Killing me will only bring on hundreds of others. The Darkness will never relent. It will always be pursuing you, Impmon. Until you are dead."

There is a silence as his words resonate. I feel compelled to say something, "And what about me? He's not going to pursue me?"

"He doesn't need to kill you, Takato. You've been dead for a long time."

BOOM!

The shot slices through BlackWargreymon's head. With that he is dead. His body explodes into data. It floats upward for some time. Neither of us absorbs it. I don't think either of us wanted it. It was tainted by The Darkness. You've been dead for a long time. What does that even mean. The words echo in my mind, saturating it with it's possible meaning, diving deeper and deeper as I try to comprehend their meaning. It's going to tear me apart trying to understand them. But I need to get past this. Our army is still at war, without us. But still… what did he mean…

A/N: Who said I was finished, and Father Time was to blame?

Love Always. Rukato Forever.

"Gentlemen it's time to spread the word, and the word is… Panic!"