The only thing that Takato felt for the moment was a light, irksome twinge of pain. He did not know where he was, or for that matter, he did not care, either. Sitting up, he felt the pain slowly drain away from his body as he looked around.

Strange, dark gears and clocks were churning and turning in the space around him. As Takato Matsuda looked again, his first thought was, I've been here before.

"That's right, Takato," came Guilmon's cheerful rumble. "Remember this place?"

"Oh, plenty," Takato chuckled. "Can I assume that we haven't won? Again?"

"That seems to be the case," came a third voice. Takato and Guilmon turned to see a tall, red-mantled knight in shining crimson and white armor. "Greetings, I am—"

"Dukemon," finished Takato and Guilmon in unison. "We know."

"Well, okay," said the crimson knight. "I just thought, you know, it might be nice to introduce myself."

"Sorry," apologized Takato. "It's just that, well, whenever Guilmon and I Matrix Evolve, we, uh, become you."

"Yes. I know. I have seen your memories, and paid particular attention to the way you used my abilities. I am not impressed."

"Forgive us," Takato said coolly. "We didn't know our inexperience was to be judged."

"Do not take me wrong, friends," said the crimson knight, approaching them. "I know this, and have come to offer my assistance."

"Assistance?"

"Well, if you want to go right back to fighting for dominance, be my guest."

"All right, fine. You win."

"Excellent. Now hold, still. This might sting a bit."The crimson knight slowly reached forward and touched his fingers to the foreheads of both Takato and Guilmon—

—And suddenly, Dukemon was lying in the bottom of a pit, aware of his surroundings. His armor had peeled completely off in places, revealing pallid skin against a splatter of red blood. He slowly rose into a sitting position.

The symbiotes had not noticed. They were too busy advancing on the futile defenses of the Tamers.

"Come, children," cackled Marine Devimon. "Allow me to show you a hadal demise!"

Dukemon slowly hiked to the rim of the crater, but what should have been an agonizing task was remarkably painless, as though an anesthetized aura stood between the Matrix Digimon and the pain. He sighted his quarry, and slowly raised Gram into the air. A strange crimson energy began to jolt up and down his spear's length, crackling silently.

"Hey, UGLY!" called Takato.

Chaos Dukemon froze, and slowly turned to see Dukemon. "No. Way."

"Next time you decide to bury me, make sure I'm dead first! ROYAL SABER!!" With a scream, Dukemon swung the tip of Gram down, unleashing an explosion of energy. A column of crimson force surged forward, slicing cleanly through everything and anything in its path.

Jigoku Justimon stared uncomprehendingly at the raw data pouring out of his right half before understanding his own bisection. And then he burst into a strange liquid, not the same as his raw symbiotic state.

Charging forward, Dukemon tossed Aegis away like some great boomerang, and leapt up to Black Saint Galgomon's chest, plunging his sword into it. He carved a wide, sweeping tear in it, and leapt out of the way as his shield, spinning like some great discus, cleaved into the tear, extracting a howl of agony from the mechanical war-dog as it burst, too, into the strange grey pus.

Landing neatly on his two feet, Dukemon snatched Aegis as it continued to spin wildly in space. He surveyed the remainder of the symbiotes. "Now, then, who's feeling lucky?"

The dark Hirokazu and Kenta looked at one another strangely. SymbiAndromon and Marine Devimon also exchanged looks, and then attacked together. Dukemon stood there for a moment, and then as the attacks loomed over them, he disappeared.

"Cowardly tactics are no guarantee, Symbiote." It was with these words that he plunged his saber through Marine Devimon, continued his momentum, and destroyed SymbiAndromon.

Over in the corner of the room, the Tamers and Royal Knights stared in shock as Dukemon obliterated the Symbiote-mass, bit by bit, until only Kazuhamon and ChaosDukemon were left. Without even waiting for a reaction, Dukemon slew his counterpart, and then looked at Kazuhamon.

"You have no idea how much I want to hurt you," seethed Dukemon in three voices. "You messed with me and my heart, and than betrayed me… But, no, you won't suffer…"

Kazuhamon stumbled backward as Dukemon roared out the final thing she ever heard. "I'LL DESTROY YOU HERE AND NOW!!!"

…And then it was over, and Dukemon was gone. In his place stood Takato and Guilmon, coated in a slime, grey mess. Were they sad? Upset?

Ruki couldn't see any expression, just a tired listlessness. "Takato?"

The tamer looked up at her, and she saw a foreign deadness in Takato's eyes that scared her. "I'm fine, Ruki… Just very, very tired."

Without a look back, the human teenager walked away from the group and into the sunlight, not noticing that an extra card had appeared in his pocket.

END: CARD HAZZARD

Clzh sighed as he heared the slam of the door and his twin's ragged breath from running up all those stairs.

"WADDAYA MEAN, 'END: CARD HAZZARD'?!" shrieked Clzh-X.

Clzh looked up tiredly. "What do you think? The story's over."

"It can't be over!! That was too short an ending!! And you can hardly call it emotionally satisfying! And whatever happened to that Yu-Gi-Oh thing you promised?"

"Calm yourself," said Yamato Takeru, appearing silently behind him. "The story may be over, but the saga is not."

"Yeah," agreed Goddra2, "School's taking too much time, so we can't pump out fics like before. This way, we can 'complete' Card Hazzard, without it really being over."

"But what about the fans? Some of them have waited long and hard for an ending, and you give them this? Two minutes of butt-whoop and a quick exit?!"

"Like said before, time just wouldn't allow," growled Clzh. "you have my word its not over. Not really, anyway.

"We'll just have to see what happens."

X looked hard at his twin before conceding. "Alright, alright, but you better have a whammy of a real ending."

"I promise."