...

ATTENTION! This chapter contains a Music Cue to a song that- at the time of writing this chapter- DOES NOT YET EXIST in a sung form. If you CANNOT locate "SKYxBLUE KNIGHTS - (Xros Heart! Final Battle)" via web search, then INSTEAD look up "Sorairo Days -Tengen Toppa Edition-" for musical accompaniment and try to ignore the lyrical dissonance.

And THANK YOU for reading this story to it's conclusion! It really means a lot to me that you've stuck through the chaos to this point. :)

~CalumTraveler

Ryouma Mogami re-watched at the complete obliteration of Tymilph's forces for the tenth time that week.

"No..." He grit his teeth, "I still can't figure out how they got that Sparrow back."

It was a complete mystery.

He'd seen that bird fly off carrying a dying Taiki and then they'd practically exploded across time-space.

He supposed it MIGHT have been possible for them to have found a replacement...but for them to intentionally invoke a Xros like that in battle...Not even one of their HIGHER forms that he KNEW they had access to...

"GRrraaahhh!" he ran his hands through his hair. "This is too frustrating!"

And so with that- he set the Fourth Wall to display a white cloud on blue sky screen saver and turned to storm off to deal with something else.

*cue BACK TO THE FUTURE Part II "Main Theme"*

And with that- the camera zoomed into the wall- and through it, to float through that cloudy expanse as text appeared on the screen:

DIGIMON XROS WARS

X0VA-12! THE LIGHT THAT FLASHES ACROSS THE HEAVENS!

It soon faded away as credit text played on the screen as the camera floated through the clouds.

[0:13]

The camera then began to pull away from the screen- only this time a different screen in Kaiyumi's lab.

As the camera panned over the objects on the desk- we saw, first and foremost, The Watch Maker's photograph of himself as a young man proposing to his wife, although, strangely, the photo seemed to be faded somewhat when compared to how it had been seen before.

It pulled over the folder on Quartzmon and Gravimon, covering pictures of the events that had taken place over the previous X0VAs and all of the Digi-Quartz adventures.

[0:24]

The camera then passed over a framed photograph of Xros Heart after their victory in defeating DarkKnightmon- where the world transitioned around it to a different photograph, hanging on the wall of an apartment somewhere else.

It was just one of many photographs on the wall- many of which could be easily recognized as having been taken during the time frame of the Seven Lands, and beyond even that.

As the camera settled on a certain Red Xros Loader, lying on a desk, the color of the Loader, and the world around it shifted.

[0:38]

The camera pulled away from Yuu's yellow Xros Loader as the camera drifted up towards the Aincrad Temporal Dive Machine controls.

The view spun slowly around the console- showing the various flickering lights and buttons and screens. The Present Location, Date, Time, and other such notations appeared on one screen. On another was the sonar sensors, detecting what ever was near or around them- at the present moment nothing at all.

[0:55]

The camera panned down and began observing a piece of the Console that was raised up and exposed its insides to the outside world- showing the various parts and pieces that made up that section of the console.

Various wire and cable clusters- glowing crystal processors- and most prominent of all, at the very center of the console, a square box with a Y shaped set of glowing tubes that was marked: FLUX CAPACITOR.

The camera pulled up from the Capacitor and up into the central tube that made up the console's centerpiece.

[1:14]

It reached the top and pulled out through the roof as it circled the entire Scarlet Jade Palace on top of the castle Aincrad as it sailed through the Lagann Cluster's Air-Space en-route towards its next destination...

The camera then pulled down towards one of the lower floors exterior where...

[1:25]

BAM BAM BAM! PCHOO!

A Time Traveling DeLorean appeared out of thin air, and nearly crashed hood first into the wall of the castle.

It swerved quickly- only barely managing to hit a flag-pole that was sticking out and bending it awkwardly as the DeLorean barely managed to avoid hitting the Castle.

Inside- the girl in the passengers seat swore at the driver- "I thought you said you knew how to drive this thing!"

"I do!" The dark haired boy shouted back.

"Do you realize what kind of a Paradox you could have just caused there!?" The girl's green eyes narrowed accusatively.

"I do!" The boy narrowed his blue-grey eyes at her in return.

"You almost SCRATCHED THE CASTLE, JULES!" She shouted.

"Hey!" The boy shouted at the long, silver-haired girl next to him, "You try jumping through time and accounting for fourteen years of temporal drift across a universal branch differential and see how easy it is, Nyarko!"

"Maybe I will!" The girl- a Sixteen Year old Nyarko Aouma- snapped at the boy, "I've got my learners permit at least!"

"For a terrestrial bound CAR!" The boy- a Fifteen Year old Jules Brown- snapped at the girl, "Not a flying DeLorean!"

[1:50]

The DeLorean swerved a bit more to avoid tripping the Proximity Scanners on the Castle, and took off towards a floor they knew would be empty at this time of day.

But our story begins elsewhere- and so the camera departed towards a different floor of Aincrad than those two teenagers were heading for- the Forested region of the 22nd Floor.

And so as that song wound to an end- our camera descended down on a certain pink haired girl wandering the paths of that region, "Gimmy...!" She called out, "Gimmy! Come on, this isn't funny anymore!"

A week.

It had been exactly one week since the battle against Tymilph and his "Dai-Gunzan" Carrier Armor ship, after which Gimmy- who everyone knew to be Taiki Kudo's following regeneration- had run off and had gone missing.

Dari- Sally Sparrow's following regeneration- scowled at the thought once more, as she had repeatedly since he'd stormed off to sulk.

'Apparently,' She mused, 'he can't handle change as well in this regeneration.'

It was an often repeated thought, especially given their circumstances. It bugged her to no end that she couldn't simply find Him, that she had no clue where he was at all.

It was an irony that had haunted her entire life this regeneration- with one of her earliest memories (of this life) being her hugging onto the red head tightly and protesting whenever someone would try to separate them. "Gimme!" She had said, which of course, had been misinterpreted as the boy's name...But at that time, neither of them could remember who they were, and it was as good of a name as any for Him.

In retrospect and with the return of her memories pre-regeneration, the circumstances that made her have that attitude were rather obvious. She'd had to hold onto him for what was a long time across time and space, and yet a very short time for Her, while the boy had regenerated.

Of course- that had lead to Her absorbing about half of the strange energies and probably twisted Her own DNA around in similar ways that His DNA had been.

It was also, in this tumbled manner of thought, that She realized why Time Lords stuck to a Title rather than a personal name. It was easier just to stick to calling someone "Doctor" or "Watcher" or "Seer" than trying to differentiate between a person's previous or present incarnations with different names.

"Avoid all the confusion..." She sighed.

At this rate, She wasn't going to find Him any time soon.

It had been a systematic search for Gimmy since then- and either He had found a hiding spot that nobody else had or He was simply moving across the Floors as they were searched and cleared.

It was most likely the latter rather than the former, but that was what made this entire search so frustrating.

Nobody had seen Gimmy at all.

MEANWHILE_ _ _| 50TH FLOOR TOWN: "ALGADE"_ _ _|

Argo the Rat knew when someone was trying to avoid being seen by people, having done it enough times herself.

Insanity. Noun.

The State of being seriously mentally ill; Madness.

Extreme Foolishness or irrationality.

Latin Origin in "Insanus" and "Insanitas", which evolved into the English "Insane" and then further into "Insanity."

That was what her parents had claimed when she insisted that she was staying on Aincrad and would be following it where-ever it went.

Looking at this cloaked figure before her who was very definitely trying to remain out of sight by sitting on a bench in the shadows, Argo reasoned that sometimes Insanity was forgivable in the face of life changing events such as these.

She strolled over to the cloaked figure and sat down- to the world appearing as if one cloaked figure had been joined by another cloaked friend.

"Black Bread for a single Col," Argo began with a comment on what the figure was eating, "reminds me of a friend of mine before she went and maxed her cooking skill."

"Huh?" the figure turned their head, revealing a boyish face, and responded with a male voice- "Sorry, what?"

Argo smirked at him, "Most people don't order the black bread on the higher floors unless they're trying to keep low, or don't have much cash on hand." She leaned back on the bench slightly and continued on, "And with the cloak, which pretty much fell out of fashion among most Players about a year ago...I'd say it was the former rather than the latter."

"You're wearing a cloak though," The boy pointed out.

"Ah, but I did say 'most', though, didn't I?" Argo tisk-ed at him.

The boy frowned, and turned back to his bread, "Can you just leave me alone?"

"Sorry, can't do that," Argo chuckled, "I've got a nasty habit about taking in strays. Picked it up from another friend of mine."

"If you're going to just talk to yourself, go right ahead," The boy grumbled, "I won't stop you."

"Yeesh, you kind of remind me of that same friend of mine before he got out of that funk of his," Argo scowled slightly, "what's your problem anyways?"

"Just the universe throwing me around like a chew toy," The boy grumbled, "nothing you should be concerned with."

"Chew toy, huh?" Argo frowned, then an idea hit her, "Let me tell you a story kid, about what it's like being someone's chew toy."

"So that friend of mine?" Argo began, "Once he had to stand up in front of a Clearing Group and put himself on a big negative pedestal. Made a big show of how he was worse than the kind of people he was accused of being."

"..." The boy had no response to that.

"So he told them off, and donned this big black coat at the end of it," Argo continued, "but know what he said after that to them?"

"No," The boy replied, "what?"

"'By the way!'" She quoted, "'I, at least, have an excuse as to why I didn't see that sword until the last moment. I was at the far back of the group- exactly where all of you wanted me in the first place- I only saw how different it was the moment it was drawn.'" She chuckled, "He then asked 'em what their excuse was for not checking to make sure that the First Floors Boss's back up weapon was what they all assumed it was. Even the most vocal guy went silent there. And then, you know what that friend of mine said next?"

The boy shook his head 'no.'

"'Even if you hate my guts for being a 'Beater', you still have to have someone like me on those advance teams, on the front line, so nobody else dies. Because even though we may know more and try to hide that, deep down, we all want as many people as possible to survive.' He said, 'And even those of us 'Beaters' who know more than we let on can be caught off guard by that Kayaba changing a simple thing as a sword type.'" Argo finished the tale, "And with that, he just walked off. He didn't hide, and he kept putting himself further and further into danger on the front lines. A lot of people hated him for being a 'beater', but at the same time, they respected him when he saved their lives countless times over."

"...That really doesn't apply to my situation," the boy said, "and I feel like I got dropped in at the end of the story without a clue what lead up to it."

"Huh, I guess I did sort of begin it at the end, didn't I?" Argo chuckled, "I just felt it was an appropriate tale, considering how that guy wound up."

"How?"

"Got the girl, married her, has a kid, and was one of the guys who helped take this Castle back from ol' Quartzy," Argo chuckled.

"...That really doesn't apply to me, then." He looked down at his bread.

"What?" She seemed surprised. "Guy like you? Doesn't have a girlfriend or somethin?"

"...Sorta kinda..." The boy seemed uneasy.

"Sounds like a long sort of story in there to me," Argo noted.

"He...I..." The boy sighed, "Supposedly, I'm the reincarnation or regeneration of some other guy, whose girlfriend got regener-whatevered into the girl I grew up with thinking she was my sister."

"Ahh- that old plot, eh?" Argo chuckled, "I'm guessing you're that kid everyone's been looking for the last few days."

"...How did you...?" The boy glanced over at her in surprise- and she saw his full face for the first time. Red Hair- grey eyes. Yup. That was "Gimmy Damon" alright.

"I'm an Info Broker, knowin' people's my job," Argo said simply. "'Sides, you pretty much confirmed it there yourself."

"You're not going to turn me in, are you?" Gimmy asked.

"Nah," Argo chuckled. "I've got better things ta do~!"

Before Gimmy could voice a reply- the alarms went off- with Yuu shouting into the Intercoms:

"Enemy Vessel Detected! Short Range incoming, multiple targets! Aincrad is entering lock down mode NOW!"

"I think that's both of our cues to scram," Argo took the chance to stand up then.

"So what now?" Gimmy asked. "Do I go help them? Or..?"

"I'll let you make that choice yourself," Argo said simply. "Although, if what I was hearing from Kii-bou about that last battle, they were all hoping you'd get a chance to make this very same choice that you've got before you right now." She turned to leave, walking slowly through the panicking crowds with a strange, practiced ease. "Ta ta, now, Gii-kun!" she waved once, and then vanished into the crowd.

Gimmy sat there for a few moments, staring after her...

His hands clenched into fists as he made his decision.

"Scans on the most prominent object are matching up with a giant scorpion," Yuu reported to the Control room, "so we're probably dealing with General Ahdene, if the Gurren Lagann plot follows through like it has."

"I wouldn't bet on it," Lizbeth countered, "the other signatures are giving off just as powerful energy readings. So we're probably dealing with all three remaining Generals at once."

"And that's only if it's following the plot of there being four generals," Kaiyumi noted. "For all we know there could be seven."

"Damn it," Kiriha swore, "that wasn't the news I wanted to hear."

"Me either," Shoutmon scowled, "I suppose we could try going for a higher Xros, but I think we might be better off not consolidating our forces into one thing."

"What are you thinking?" Nene asked, "Xros Five Knight Burst mode again?"

"De-Xros, actually," Shoutmon shook his head, "I'll need Beelzebmon and Revolomon on double duty on targeting with Ballistamon's Hexagonal Cannon. The PawnChessmonz and Knightmon should be helping out with the Front Line Defense, too. Ah...what am I forgetting..."

So distracted was everyone by waiting for Shoutmon to finish his thoughts that they failed to notice Gimmy running into the room- grabbing the Drill Key off of the console, and back out the room again.

"Wait," Shoutmon said suddenly after a few seconds had passed, "was I dreaming, or wasn't that Gimmy just now?"

It was then that a loud roar emerged from outside as Lagann took to the Air-space Skies.

"Yeah," Kiriha said flatly, "I'm going to say that wasn't a dream."

Gimmy had his eyes held closed tightly as he tried very hard to control the machine around him.

He wasn't going to bother with any of that transformation stuff or weird drill summoning powers just yet...

No, he had something to do first.

'Alright, then...what do you want me to do with this thing, Dad?'

"Okay, change of plans," Shoutmon declared suddenly as they watched the little Armor fly into the sky as a streak of green light, "Get Kamina in the Lion Armor, I want him prepped and ready for battle at a moment's notice."

"Got it!" Yuu nodded, and was off.

"Someone get me Dari," Shoutmon continued, "we'll be taking out Xros Five instead of De-Xros."

"Sure thing!" Liz was off the moment after that.

"Kiriha- I want you and MetalGureimon ready to blast those command ships out of the sky at a moment's notice," Shoutmon glanced over towards the Denizen of Breath and smirked- "Oh and be sure to give it that extra Blue Flare sparkle, would ya?"

"With pleasure," Kiriha smirked.

"Would someone let Akari know that she'll probably want to be in the Control Room to see this?" Shoutmon added, "I have a feeling it's going to be a really big thing."

"I'll go find her," Nene nodded in agreement.

"Alright then..." Shoutmon smirked...only to frown. "And where the hell did Rei get off to?"

Meanwhile, in a bar on the 74th Floor...

"AND THEN!" A more-than-slightly drunken Rei Ayanami threw her mug-holding hand into the air, she, along with everyone else in the bar, so drunk off their asses that they didn't even hear the alert alarms. "WE SHOVED A TURNIP SO FAR UP HIS-!"

"Wait, no," Shoutmon shuddered slightly, "I don't think I want to know the answer to that question."

Yui had been reunited with her friends ever since they began the journey into the void- not days for her after they'd been flung away. For Rook and Bishop however, it had been years. Nobody cared- however- as the two Cardinal System Twins turned PawnChessmonz had very interesting stories to tell. Stories sadly, at the moment, were cut off by the imminent thread of danger.

And so, as Yui stood by on the sidelines, watching the PawnChessmonz as a group prepare for battle, she couldn't help but observe the changes in Rook and Bishop- more commonly known now as Problem and Flute.

Yui looked around the group a bit more and saw Kirito- her Papa- and Asuna- her Mama- each preparing for a fight that might not reach them.

It was an annoyance to Yui that she had been allowed to fight in the final battle to take Aincrad back, and even briefly on Earth...but here, inside the "Lagann Cluster", she wasn't allowed to fight at all.

And so Yui sat there, forced to sit and watch, but not participate.

It was then that a glimpse of silver hair flowing behind the crowd drew her attention.

Yui frowned slightly. What was that about? Nobody in the front lines had silver hair...

Curious, Yui tried to track the oddities progress, but found that the person had simply vanished, as if they were not meant to be included in this scenario at all...

"You almost got caught!" Jules admonished, "That would've retconned the Time Line entirely!"

"I had to get the note into Reenah's purse somehow, didn't I?" Nyarko reminded him. "Think where we'd be if we DIDN'T do it this way!"

Gimmy lost track of time, hovering over the top of Aincrad inside Lagann like he was. His eyes had been closed to the presence of a clock, and the faint hum of the machine's electronics had been tuned out.

And so he sat there- mind emptied out as he simply sat there in the Air-Space-sky. It was all silent for the longest time as he dug down mentally, seeking that which had hidden itself...

And then...

"So there's a fight going on down there and he's not even participating?"

Gimmy's eyes opened- not to Lagann's controls, but to a crimson void with golden clouds.

Before him stood two people- both of whom were identical save for age, clothing choices, and differing eye colors.

"Well," The younger of the two said, despite having an oddly deeper voice, "way I see it, he's trying to get to a place where he CAN fight." He turned, crimson eyes widening in delight, "Ah, and see! There he is now."

The older of the two glanced over, grey eyes narrowing slightly, "Ah, So he is."

"So there are two of you?" Gimmy asked- spurred on by his arrival being noticed. "I've got to try to be two people now instead of just one?"

"Try To-?" The younger's eyes widened, and then he keeled over laughing

"What's so funny?" Gimmy scowled.

"Don't mind Hephaestus. He's just finding amusement in the fact that the next version of us asked such a stupid question." The older shook his head, "My name is Taiki, by the way."

"I figured one of you were," Gimmy said, "everyone kept saying how Dari and I came from you and this Sally girl."

"Sally?" The older one- Taiki- seemed to do a double take there. "You mean she regenerated too?"

"Wait-" Gimmy held a hand up as if to pause the conversation, "you're telling me that you haven't been able to see a single thing I've lived through the last week?"

"Actually, we're rather much in the same situation I was in for most of Taiki's life save for those few weeks we knew each other," the younger- Hephaestus- said as he recovered from his laughing fit. "Regeneration memories are locked behind a mental wall most of the time. Taiki joined me here after he got shot and-"

"Shot?" Gimmy interrupted- "Nobody told me I- You- Whoever- GOT SHOT!"

"Seriously?" Taiki scowled, "Let me see some of those memories of yours. If Shoutmon's seriously tried to do the Tagiru thing again, I'll...!"

"Already done," Hephaestus said with a smirk. "And does giving him pilot training for a- might I just add- VERY IMPRESSIVE piece of technology count as doing the Tagiru thing?"

"Not really," Taiki frowned as the memories got shared over to him.

"Oi Oi!" Gimmy flailed his arms about, "Stop digging around in my head would ya!"

"Can you blame us on wanting to get caught up on what's happened to everyone over the last ten years?" Hephaestus remarked. "This is just as bad as when I was out of it for a whole year without a single word from you, you know!" He directed that comment at Taiki.

"Hey! We all assumed you'd died when that regeneration happened," Taiki directed his reply back at his alternate self. "Even Echidna couldn't detect your presence in me! And she thought we'd just been fused together heart and soul!"

"And then you went and sealed away all of my powers when you got to the point of funneling all that excess energy out of you!" Hephaestus retorted, "If I'd been there I would've just teleported into space and vented all of that regeneration energy into the void! Then you wouldn't have had the problems you did later on with the-"

"Alright," Gimmy started to tune them out then, instead choosing to walk around the void space that was, apparently, his inner mind. "That's enough of that."

There were memories hidden away on the various clouds, playing through them as if being projected straight from the past.

Viewing one let him remember it as if he'd actually lived it- and so he kept watching them. Going on to memory after memory while his previous selves argued.

As he relived these moments- taking what seemed to be lifetimes to review them all and yet taking no time at all- he realized that, for all that was going on here, he wasn't all that dissimilar to Taiki and Hephaestus.

They were the same person, after all, just with a few added years of experience and character development.

It was then that he found a locked safe, just... sort of jutting out all impudent like from what appeared to be the 'floor' of the crimson void.

"Excuse me," Gimmy called out, interrupting the other two from what they were discussing presently, "but what's this?" he pointed at the safe.

"THAT would be the powers Taiki had sealed away." Hephaestus answered, "Good luck opening the damn thing, it requires seven keys that Taiki had split up among everyone in Xros Heart, and one of those seven got exploded and genetically infused into Shoutmon himself. There's nothing that can break it open short of-"

As the Denizen had rambled, Gimmy had realized that he'd been holding onto the Key Drill from Lagann for who knows how long.

Right as Hephaestus remarked that there was nothing that could break it open, Gimmy threw a punch at the safe- stabbing the Key Drill into the safe's metallic surface rather easily.

KLANG!

The echo resounded through the void space rather loudly.

Hephaestus and Taiki froze at the sound.

crack

And then a hairline fracture emerged from the drill's impact point.

Crack.

And then another.

CracK. CrAcK. cRaCk. CRACK.

And then four more in quick succession.

"Did he seriously just Giga Drill Break that safe open with a Core Drill?" Taiki asked.

"I do believe he did." Hephaestus answered just as a seventh crack resounded from the safe as a brilliant, golden light shone out of the cracks in the safe, overwhelming everything in the void.

Shoutmon let out a yelp of surprise as he fell to one knee, clutching at his heart. "Ow..! What the hell was that?!"

"Are you okay?" Kiriha asked.

"No! I just felt like someone sucker punched me in the chest!" Shoutmon grumbled as he felt the pain pass. "And also..." He blinked casually as if the sudden pain had taken away more pain than it had initially given. Like pain that he didn't even realize he'd been feeling. "I feel like someone pulled a giant weight off of my shoulders all of a sudden." He sort of hopped on his feet a bit. "Damn, I don't think I've felt this loose in years!" he rolled his shoulders and his neck a bit.

"SHOUTMON!" Kaiyumi came running up just then- holding her Delta Necklace in hand, "My necklace!" She held it up to him to see- "It's cracked!"

"Wha...?" Shoutmon stared at the golden triangle in surprise. It was one of the Lock keys for Taiki's powers, except it had several hairline fractures running along its shiny surface. Several hairline fractures that were leaking out a golden mist. If that were the case, then the other keys had probably broken as well. "Well that explains the pain I felt just now."

"What happened?" Kiriha frowned as he asked that million dollar question.

Kaiyumi and Shoutmon rolled their eyes in unison as they replied, "Taiki's power seal got broken."

Gimmy's eyes opened to the familiar inside of Lagann a mere ten minutes after he had stolen Lagann in the first place.

Suddenly, he knew exactly what he had to do.

He reached for switches- flipping on scanners and power adapters he never even knew Lagann had before now. It was all instinctive- like someone had put everything exactly where he'd expect it to be.

And someone had.

Marcus Damon- the man who had found and raised Gimmy and Dari- the mystery twins who fell from the sky-

The Golden Light that Flashed Across the Heavens.

The three Bagura Co. Generals- Guaam, Ahdene, and Cytomandar- floated towards the Castle Aincrad whose forces had, one week earlier, utterly destroyed their fellow general Tymilph.

These three were set to destroy the fortress or take it hostage- but, Mister Mogami had ordered, the former would be ten times more appreciated than the latter.

It was then that a golden flash of light descended towards them.

"What is that?" Ahdene asked over radio, "The Knight we saw obliterate Tymilph?"

"No, it's much too small," Guaam would reply moments later, "only about the size of the head of a standard Armor."

"A piece of Dai-Gunzan, perhaps?" Cytomandar proposed.

"No, we're much too far away from those battle coordinates," Guaam would shoot down immediately.

"Then what is it, exactly?" Ahdene asked.

"'What is it' you ask?" Came the voice that was being transmitted from the tiny vessel. "I haven't had a chance to try this one on my own yet."

The three Generals shared uneasy glances as the golden light descended to a stop before their flagships- the top opening up to reveal a single, red haired boy standing inside a head-shaped Miniature Armor with tiny legs and arms.

"Lagann's broadcasting on all frequencies!" Lizbeth shouted suddenly, "It's hijacked every video monitor's speakers somehow! I can't pull it down."

"The Ones who I used to be before are gone- but not dead!" Gimmy began- "In my mind, and in my heart!" He pounded a fist to his chest- "THEY LIVE ON AS A PART OF ME!"

"What is he gibbering on about?" Guaam would ask.

"I'm not sure-!" Ahdene would frown.

"If You're going to fly, then AIM FOR THE HEAVENS!" Gimmy's voice would echo through Aincrad's floors- drawing Dari's gaze upwards.

"Gimmy...!" She blinked. "How did you...?"

"And if I have to dig in order to fly, then I will even if it kills me again and again!" Gimmy continued on- pointing to the Air-Space above him. "And Once I've Broken through, IT MEANS THAT I'VE WON!"

"You-WHAT?!" Cytomandar blinked rapidly.

"Just who the hell do you THINK I AM?" Gimmy continued to rant, even as Argo sipped calmly at a mug of hot chocolate in an Inn somewhere.

"Wise choice, kid."

"I am Taiki and yet not! I am Hephaestus and yet not!" That line in particular made Shoutmon's eyes widen slightly- nobody had brought up Hephaestus' name to Gimmy before he went missing. "My name may have become 'Gimmy the Digger' in days gone by, but today that changes once and for all!"

"Is he about to do what I think he's about to do?" Akari asked for the first line this entire chapter.

"I think he is," Nene nodded.

"I AM ME!" And with that- the boy ducked back into the Armor's control seat as it's protective dome resurfaced- and several transformations overcame the tiny armor (The Right arm shifted into a familiar looking sword- the Left arm into a familiar looking fist- the legs becoming big and bulk and very spring loaded- and a pair of massive jet engine wings sprouted from the back, with drill heads forming from their rotating intake ports) as the boy shouted out his- as well as the Armor's- newly shared name: "LAGANN THE MAINTAINER!"

"Energy spike from the Armor-!" Guaame shouted as Lagann shot forwards with the sword raised high- "He's going to-!"

"ENGRAVE THAT ON YOUR HEARTS!"

SWISH- SLASH- SLICE!

With three precise and yet physically impossible cuts- the three Generals Carrier Armors were sliced and diced into eight equal pieces- respectively- but before they could explode- a familiar warp of red-white energy overcame the wrecked Carrier Armors and made them vanish.

To where? No-one could say for sure.

But exactly six months after Xros Heart would leave the Lagann Cluster, those three ships would be found in ruins on Crater Zone's surface- with their crews entirely alive, yet confused and stunned.

The tiny Armor lowered itself down onto the docking bay- where everyone was waiting for it and its pilot.

Nobody said a word as Dari stormed over to Lagann (the armor) while its retractable dome opened up.

Gimmy climbed out moments later, climbing down and out of the Armor before turning around just as Dari got to him. "Hi Da-"

SLAP

"Ri." Gimmy finished as he blinked away the pain. "Ow, by the way."

"Don't you dare do that again!" Dari said simply. "Promise me you won't run away and leave me alone for a whole week like that EVER again! Do you hear me Gimmy-Damon-Taiki-Kudo?" For extra emphasis she, completely mangled both of his names in such a way that it sounded as if she had said "Jimmy Damotaki Kudo", it was completely forced for whatever reason she had in mind for saying it in that way.

"I promise," Gimmy said as he bowed his head in apology, "and I'm sorry I did it in the first place."

"Good." Dari nodded as she crossed her arms. "Apology accepted!" They stood there in silence for a few seconds before she continued. "Now what's all this about you changing your name to 'Lagann'?"

"Er, well..." Gimmy blinked, "I'm not really sure how to explain it, but-"

"If you seriously want to change your name like that, then you have to run it by me first!" Dari continued on.

"C...Can I change my name?" Gimmy asked, unsure of what she was even asking for here.

"Yes." She then leaned forward and kissed him quickly before pulling back and smirking as she said, "But if you're going to be Lagann, then I'll just have to be Gurren."

Among the reactions that we could see in the distant crowd- that simple remark brought Kamina's balance to a perfect end- resulting in the man falling face first into the floor. Meanwhile, Simon fought, and failed, to hold back his laughter; Shoutmon just shook his head at that remark, wondering what had prompted her to make such an off-the-collar remark; and Akari just smiled at it.

But through all this, you might be asking...

"Where are Kaiyumi and The Watch Maker?"

The answer to that was the lab- where Reenah had just delivered a strange letter she'd found in her hot pink clam shell shaped purse, which we never really saw but is SO totally canon.

"Okay," Kaiyumi said simply as she finished reading over the letter, "so we sent a letter years into the past, only to receive a letter sent TO us from years in the future."

"Irony," The Watch Maker mused. "It seems that for sure we've succeeded to alter my past..." He picked up the old picture that used to show a moment of his life- now faded drastically as the edges of the paper had blackened as if being burnt without touching a flame. "...so what does it mean that we receive a similar letter just on the very eve of battle?"

"It's just coordinates," Kaiyumi sighed, "and the message 'head here', so...obviously...that's got to be where Quartzmon's hiding out, and this is our way of getting us to not waste our time?"

"What shall you tell them then, as to how we found these coordinates?" The Watch Maker inquired even as he glanced to his watch- Four Days Remaining.

"During the latest battle, someone managed to hack into the enemy ships data banks," Kaiyumi explained to the room, "and got these coordinates," she punched in the coordinates into the destination drive, "that were marked down as the enemy base."

"Who exactly got us these coordinates?" Lizbeth asked as she looked at the coordinates.

"Someone who wishes to remain anonymous," Kaiyumi answered.

"...Right, well..." Lizbeth scowled as she read the travel time input. "From our present location, we'll reach this place in just shy of four days."

"...Perfect." Kaiyumi hid her grimace behind a smile.

The DeLorean accelerated to 88 Miles Per Hour and jumped across the time span of four days and the same distance covered in a single second.

The Time Machine slowed to a stop in the wide hallways of the Bagura Co.'s main building.

The two Gull wing doors swung open as Nyarko and Jules climbed out only to swing the doors closed behind them.

With a silent nod- the two of them ran off to do who knows what.

Moments passed, leaving the car unoccupied for several moments...

And then the hood popped open and a girl with long red hair (tied up into twin tails) sat up to get a deep breath of air before pulling looking around at her surroundings. "Wrong again!" She muttered before pulling the hood closed again.

The Final Zone before them was...quite simply...A Quartzmon Terminal. Or rather, the heavy, rock version that the Terminal on Earth had been before it turned into a machine.

"He's taunting us," Akari said simply, "he's flat out taunting us with the shape of that building."

"Why wouldn't he?" Shoutmon grumbled, "Nobody here should realize what it represents."

"So we've scanned the entire place," Kaiyumi said, "the entire place seems to have been evacuated save for five life signs."

"So they evacuated the place then?" Shoutmon asked.

"Probably." Kaiyumi answered. "But while three of the signatures have remained in constant motions, two haven't. One's deep inside the fortress, and one near the "Eye" we're seeing on the structure. It's probably some sort of observation room."

"So we'll target the eye, and then storm the castle?" Akari asked.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Shoutmon grinned, "but first, let's get some cameras up close and personal on that place. Make sure we're not just blindly stumbling into something."

Doing such was even easier than said.

What they saw made Kaoru really happy.

"It's my dad!" She said as soon as she saw him cradling the picture frame. "And he...he's missing me! A Me any ways!"

"That would be the Heir that got killed," Nene noted. "I don't think the Universe would have thrown us this kind of coincidence unless it was the key to something."

"This gives me an idea," Kaiyumi began...

Bagura Mayuzumi sat on his throne, staring out into the the Air Space quite casually.

There was a new object in his world view- a strange, egg shaped, floating castle that seemed to be getting closer and closer.

It concerned him little.

It wasn't as if his daughter was alive and well on that imposing fortress- Wait. "Hrm?" he sat up a bit. What was that golden light shooting towards the window at an incredible speed-?

KRASH!

Suddenly- a giant robotic fist smashed through the window before him- the owner of that fist?

Gurren Lagann Xros Five.

One of Xros Heart's Digi-Xrosses.

Bagura stood up from his throne suddenly- staring at the Digimon that had dared interrupt his mourning...

*cue Libera Me From Sburb*

"DADDY!"

"What-?" The man's eyes widened as the fist opened- allowing a girl to slide out of it's grip to the floor. "Impossible...!"

It was Kaoru.

His Daughter.

"DADDY!" She ran right at him and then- in a surprising turn of events for the man- hugged him. "You're alive!"

"W..Kaoru-chan...? How are you here...?" His question was cut off as the door to the room slammed open and Ryouma ran into the room.

"Mayuzumi Sir! You have too-" And then he saw Kaoru. "YOU!" he shouted, no trace of his normal accent around at all. "How the hell did you get here?!"

[0:10]

"YOU!" Kaoru spat at him- "What are you doing here!?"

"You answer me first, Brat!" Ryouma snarled, "You're the one that should be Dead!"

"Dead...Ryouma...?" Bagura turned to face his butler. "You mean to say that my Daughter has not somehow come back to life?"

"Of Course Not!" Ryouma spat without even thinking- "I Killed her with my own hands! She's an impostor!"

[0:22]

"What Did You Just Say?" Bagura took in a deep breath.

"I said that-" And then Ryouma realized all of a sudden that in his enraged rush to come into the room- he'd neglected his ritual of forcing himself into his Butler roll. "-Oh crap."

"Byeeeh!" Kaoru stuck her tongue out at Ryouma.

"Ch..." Ryouma scowled, "Fine...your sudden rushing of the castle has caught me. What ever shall you do about it?"

[0:28]

"That's the question of the hour!" GLX5 said with Shoutmon's voice as they shrunk down to fit into the room- "We're at a sort of impasse here, Ryouma. Or rather, should I say...Gravimon?"

"Gravimon?" Bagura's eyes widened, "You mean to say that my Butler is the man that leads the Reaper Zone fighting?"

"What?" GLX5 blinked at that- "Where the hell did you hear that from?"

"From-" Bagura stopped as soon as he realized that it was Ryouma who had told him that. "Oh."

"Exactly," GLX5 chuckled, though it was of the humorless sort. "So what do you have to say for yourself, Gravimon?"

"I regret nothing!" Ryouma scowled, "Everything I did was to further the glory of the Empire that you lot so cruelly ended!"

"What empire?" Kaoru snarled, "My dad never wanted any Empire like that! It was all-"

"My brother's idea.." Bagura finished that sentence, realization dawning upon him, "A Brother of mine who vanished not weeks after hiring you on as my personal Butler, Ryouma!"

"I couldn't let him back stab you in this universe," Ryouma snarled, "and he was planning just that!"

[0:44]

"So what if he was?" Kaoru snarled at the man, "Did that give you any right to try to kill me twice?!"

"Twice...?" That confused Ryouma and enraged Bagura even further.

"You monster!" Bagura shouted at his now former butler, "I should fire you on the spot if only that were the most fitting punishment!"

"No way in hell!" Ryouma scowled, "I'll kill you both...and ... Oh, right..." Ryouma turned his glare at GLX5. "Don't you have somewhere better to be?"

"Nope." Shoutmon grinned as Kiriha, Nene, The PawnChessmonz, and several SAO Front Liners appeared on the other side of the door that Ryouma had broken down.

"Hi there," Nene smirked at Ryouma, "You might remember me as the sister of the girl who you used to work with?"

"You know, the one who you tried to kill?" Echidna threw in, which made Ryouma gulp at this.

[0:57]

"Well," Ryouma said as he threw his arms out to the side, "Here I am! What do you plan on doing with me?"

"What else?" GLX5 said with Dari's voice, "We're going to kill you for everything you did to us...Quartzmon."

"W...What did you just call me?" Ryouma's "oh crap" face made an even more famous appearance.

"Quartzmon," The Watch Maker repeated as he strolled into the room rather casually through the broken window- Lagann and Clockmon having been the ones who escorted him to the entry way from Aincrad.

[1:07]

"N...NO!" Ryouma shook with anger as everyone crowded in around him. "This isn't fare! How the hell did you figure THAT one out!?"

"You told us," Kiriha said flatly- "so, quite literally, you have nobody to blame but yourself."

"N-NOO!" And then Ryouma's body convulsed as he produced a shock wave that made the entire building shudder and shake.

"Okay! Time to get out of here!" Gimmy shouted as he activated Lagann's quick range teleport- zapping everyone in that room besides Ryouma all the way back to Aincrad's 100th floor in an instant.

[1:18]

Just in time too- as the entire home base of Bagura Co. was engulfed in a massive burning purple flame that seemed to melt it into a liquid structure.

Everyone could only stare up in horror at it as it began to shift inwards into a massive spheroid shape- unsealing a dark blue rift underneath the very place that the building/Zone had been constructed on.

[1:29]

A rift that quickly expanded outwards- engulfing the entire area as both Aincrad and the apparently transforming Ryouma were dumped out of the Lagann Cluster and into the void between both multiverses.

[1:38]

It was then that the transformation of Ryouma's...Quartzmon's new body was completed.

From the purple flames emerged the familiar white arms- four in total- and the massive black sphere that the white, lanky body with a mouth in its stomach resided in.

It's head formed with those twin hour-hands out of it's ears, and eight gleaming red eyes narrowed at Aincrad in anger.

[1:47]

"YOOU!" he roared- gathering all four arms in front of him as if to compress all the spare fire down into a single attack. "GAP! RYUSHI! HOUUUU!"

He roared and threw forth a blinding laser beam of flames and fire that impacted Aincrad's shields- and began splitting apart across their surface.

[1:57]

"The shields aren't going to hold much longer if he keeps this up!" Lizbeth reported. "We need to stop that attack some how!"

"Obviously-" The Watch Maker declared as he tore off his watch and threw it to the ground- "You'll need to combine into something on a scale to match that one."

"You're ready for this?" Kaiyumi asked as she finished attaching something to Clockmon's back- some sort of flickering device of similar design to the Flux Capacitor.

"I was reborn ready," The Watch Maker said even as his entire body faded out for a brief moment before snapping right back.

"Wait- what-" GLX5 did a double take at that. "Why did he-?"

[2:02]

"LET'S GO!" The Watch Maker roared as Clockmon wrapped her arms around him and took off towards the shields.

They soared out towards the shield- and then passed through it as Clockmon emitted a shield of her own- cutting straight through the swath of purple fire baring down Aincrad like they were a bullet- a bullet set on a straight course for Quartzmon's Heart.

"MIRRORED SYNCHRONIZATION!" Both he and Clockmon cried out not moment's before impact- sending Quartzmon reeling backwards as he ceased the laser attack,

"HGRAHAHH!"

[2:16]

"LAGANN!" Kaiyumi yelled to Lagann- "Put your Drill into the console!"

"What?!" The armor matched it's pilots surprised expression. "SERIOUSLY!?"

"DO IT NOW!" Kaiyumi roared- tears streaming down from her eyes.

"R-RIGHT!" And with that- Lagann summoned a drill for his right hand and then shoved it through the pried open console and into the delicate innards of the Temporal Dive Machine.

Immediately- a giant metal panel formed out of nowhere- sealing the drill into the console as a spiral gauge appeared on all monitors across Aincrad everywhere.

"Kaiyumi!" Nene turned to the little girl, "What's going on here!?"

"Why the hell did the old man just do a suicide mission!?" Shoutmon asked.

"HE WAS ALREADY DEAD!" Kaiyumi shouted back- sniffing back tears as she tried to explain. "We had a plan. He would synchronize EVERY Quartzmon in existence from this PRIME Quartzmon! Making sure they all experienced the same death every single time!"

[2:25]

"S...Seriously?" Kiriha did a double take at that. "Then what's even going on here?"

"We're going to transform Aincrad itself into a giant armor," Kaiyumi explained as one of the console panels transformed suddenly to allow a Xros Loader to be plugged in- which she put in the instant it appeared. "And to do that- we're going to Digi-Xros EVERYONE and EVERYTHING in it together!"

"What-" Kaoru spoke up- confused from the very beginning of this sequence. "We're going to Combine EVERYTHING?"

"We've done that before-" Shoutmon reminded her, "I've done it with two earths personally...but both times were either inside a Newly born or a Doomed Timeline. And we're not in-"

"ANY timeline at all!" Kaiyumi said as she pointed out at the void- "We're BETWEEN universes! Screw the laws of physics! THERE AREN'T ANY OUT HERE!"

"So..." Simon spoke up from inside GLX5- "Do the impossible, see the invisible?"

"RO RO FIGHT DA POWER!" Starmon chimed in.

[2:45]

"Exactly." Kaiyumi nodded even as Quartzmon came to his senses and fired off another laser blast.

"YOU FOOLS! THAT ATTACK DID NOTHING AT ALL!" He roared as purple flames bared down on Aincrad once more. "HE SACRIFICED HIMSELF FOR NOTHING!"

"Not nothing..." Kaiyumi smirked as the many Spiral gauges filled up and an overwhelming red energy flooded Aincrad from top to bottom.

She took a breath, and then roared to the sky:

"FINAL FUSION!"

[2:55]

Before Quartzmon's eyes- the shield suddenly exploded as red flames forced their way out into the blue void- forcing Quartzmon to drop his attack in surprise to view the results of his attack.

The fire explosion settled down into a pool of liquid red energy- Quartzmon laughed.

"Did I do it?" His lower mouth split into a grin, "DID I KILL THEM?~"

[3:05]

The Energy suddenly bubbled upwards with a mighty splash as a giant humanoid form emerged from the murky depths- leaving Quartzmon staring on in horror as his question was answered.

Giant red and steel grey arms that reminded you of Ballistamon- shoulders mounted with giant golden blades whose designs screamed OmegaShoutmon and ZekeGureimon- powerful legs of Dorulumon- spiraling with engravings and designs that spoke of Knightmon's armor- Massive engine wings of Sparrowmon- A chest that had a very familiar V Crest topped with equally familiart shades- and two giant microphone stands held in each hand- and a helmeted head that had Lagann's face and Time Seven's helmet.

[3:13]

"What-" Quartzmon stared on with his eight eyes going wide- "WHAT!?"

"Even when time itself stands in our way!" Kaiyumi started the speech.

"We'll take our own path and make it our own!" Kiriha roared.

"Our fighting spirit won't be extinguished while we have loved ones to support us!" Nene continued.

"You may have destroyed our home once- But we rescued it TWICE OVER!" Akari added.

"You really don't know how this works by Now?" Gimmy asked.

"You really should have paid attention sooner!" Dari added.

"Take your stupid desire to knock us down and throw it to the curb!" Simon shouted.

"We'll get up time and time again!" Yuu added.

[3:24]

"Just who the hell do you think we are?" Shoutmon finished from within GLX5- who was sitting in a control seat similar to Lagann's at the very center of the giant Robot's head. "GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL ALREADY..."

"AND ENGRAVE IT ON YOUR HEART!" Everone who was inside Aincrad in that exact moment shouted at once- "WE ARE XROS HEART! THIS IS YOUR FINAL HOUR, QUARTZMON!"

And to sum that up- a massive "XH" wrote itself into the space in front of them- with a 12 forming underneath it with a stylized G shape forming just behind that- making it look as if the "12" had literally jumped off of the face of the clock.

"XROS HEART! TWELVE G!" Shoutmon called out the final name as all those shapes slid to the side, and merged into one line; making the full name "XH12G!" as the exclamation mark drew itself into existence before the entire text faded away.

Quartzmon stood there watching this in complete horror- unable to vocalize a single word at this development.

And for the remainder of the song- the camera pulled out to full reveal these two to be straddling the void of two different universes that were circling each other like two planets orbit an invisible sun- and then further out again- revealing it to be on the floating remains of that Fourth Wall that had been broken up by Green Miles so many chapters ago.

That particular shard floated away as the song ended, leaving us drifting towards another shard...

SHIPWRECK XONE_ _ _| UNIVERSE ID #Z0N3R: XW-shpwrk

Meanwhile, in another branch of the Multiverse with a slightly different group of Interdimensional Zone Hoppers than we're used to...

A Boy named Dan and his Betamon partner lay on a grassy hill staring up at the night sky...

When suddenly- a familiar glimmering golden light shot across the sky- leading to the duo to sit up suddenly at the sight.

"W..What was that about...?!" the Betamon, who was wearing headphones, shuddered in surprise as a sort of de-ja-vu moment rippled down from the sight of that meteor.

"A Digi-Meteor...?" Dan questioned, "...or was that a Code Crown?" He too shuddered from the odd feeling that had overcome him, "Either way, why should we feel so scared...?"

"YO BLUES!" came the sudden shout from his companions that made him and Betamon turn around.

Before them were four natives of this universe- whom we all should recognize as alternate universe variants of four particular people- Shoutmon, Taiki, Akari, and Dorulumon.

"I feel so outta tune, man!" Shoutmon said as he rubbed his arms repeatedly as if to get some heat back into them, "I'm so cold my Heart o'Rockn'Roll ain't keepin' me warm! It...It's like Billion Shoutmons just up an' had their Farewell tours!"

"Brr...!" Taiki had his arms crossed over his chest, grimacing at the sensations he'd felt, "It felt like I was shot just now..."

"I had this sense of dread that I'd lose Taiki in an explosion!" Akari was hanging onto Taiki tightly, this one being a naturally born human that had grown up as Taiki's best friend and caretaker.

"Yeah, what they said, basically," Dorulumon said with a simple grimace.

"Oh, I see what happened..." Betamon sighed.

"Zone Ripples..." Dan agreed as he settled down a bit, knowing the cause.

"Zone or Xone?" Dorulumon asked, inquiring over a dimensional Quirk they'd discovered about this small branch of the universe.

"Zone with a Z," Dan said, "Zone Ripples are a kind of butterfly effect..." he explained, "If an event that occurs in one Zone is great or catastrophic enough, it sends shocks through the rest of its Sister Zones."

"So, that's what those feelings were?" Taiki asked.

"Does that Mean I'll lose Taiki in Explosive Gunfire?" Akari asked, eyes widening in concern for her friend.

"Not necessarily," Dan explained, "these feelings don't predict the future, Akari. That said, the fait of your alternates wasn't pleasant." He made that comment completely unaware of the events that were about to transpire.

"Guess our backwater Zone's pretty connected then," Dorulumon mused as he sat down next to Dan and Betamon.

"It's like that for all Zones," Betamon corrected, "Ripples are Rare, but when they happen it's a real pain."

Dorulumon frowned at that, and as Akari, Taiki and Shoutmon celebrated the fact that they wouldn't be dying any time soon, he reached a paw over and pulled Dan over to whisper.

"So there's nothing besides these 'bad vibes', Dan?" He asked.

"Typically..." Dan mulled it over for a moment, "No. However, there may come a time when we'll have to clean up the spill over..."

"Spill over huh..." Dorulumon muttered as he thought over it for a few moments, then, he glanced up to the sky on a whim. His eyes widened suddenly. "You mean something like That?"

Everyone glanced up at that comment- and they all stared up in surprise at what was there.

A massive Digi-Xros, blurred only faintly by static, appearing high up in the sky, facing off against a meanacing form that was even more obscured by static than the Digi-Xros.

"XROS HEART! TWELVE G!"

*cue SKYxBLUE KNIGHTS - (Xros Heart! Final Battle!) [Lyrics by KathAveara and CalumTraveler]*

The Voice echoed across many worlds- and places and times.

Across Television screens and skies, and computer monitors- This scene could be seen high and wide- for every person of that particular world to see once and only the once.

On the SAO Earth, Ryouma looked up to the sky as he was lead from a car to the court house steps- and then he realized the answer to a question he'd asked a long time before.

Everywhere- across all points of the Multiverse- this climatic battle could be seen through the previously mentioned Zone Ripples.

Except...as the source was outside of the normal flow of time...The normal rules of needing to be a "Sister Zone" did not apply in this case.

In that Sky Blue Void at the Edge of Time- XH12G and Quartzmon faced off for the final time.

"XROS HEART! TWELVE G!" Shoutmon roared as they struck a pose across from the awestruck Quartzmon.

"What?" Akari taunted, "Speechless?"

"GRR!" Quartzmon shook his head finally! "NO! This makes no difference at all What you call yourselves! You will DIE!" He threw an energy blast at XH12G and it exploded...to no effect.

Listen Up: what can you Hear? / Does our voice simply disappear?

"Really?" Shoutmon chuckled, "Cause somehow, I think it's going to be the other way around!"

Covered up by this, the sound of Every Screaming Heart?

And with that- XH12G flew fowards and punched Quartzmon in the face- sending the beast flying backwards with a hearty blow.

Or can you hear the song that we sing, / A song now echoed by all things:

Quartzmon rolled away, and got to his 'feet' only to realize that XH12G had split up into multiple energy apparitions.

Now we know, we can be sure, of the role the song will fulfill!

His eight eyes widened as an apparition of CascadeStarmon grinned at him as it hurled a massive meteor at him.

SMASH!

You have beaten us down, time and time again,

Suddenly- energy apparitions of Typheus and Echinda in their massive forms lanced by- slashing through Quartzmon with energy blades of Wind and Life.

Yet we would not surrender;

And then JagarD0rulumon came barreling down upon him with an energy drill that sent Quartzmon plummeting down through the void... And into a Giant Record Floor that had not existed the moment before.

Not 'til we saw the Night Blue Sky at the Edge of Time!

An Energy ZekeGureimon grinned at Quartzmon as an Energy OmegaShoutmon and Energy DeltAntylamon barreled down upon him with the triple combo Record Scratch Attack.

Of course- they weren't aiming to PURIFY Quartzmon- oh no!- they simply wanted to create a massive blast of energy that sent him hurtling back up into the void.

So we kept on the fight, / Because we knew it even then:

As he went flying- The Eight PawnChessmon- joined by numerous Energy apparitions of SAO Floor Bosses that matched up in skills and traits with certain SAO players- launched strike after strike after strike that completely scratched up his lower spheroid's armor paint.

That we cannot be stopped with this song locked in our hearts!

And then Energy Knightmon came flying down with his sword glowing an amazing color as he slashed straight through Quartzmon- creating a roar of pain that every Quartzmon and Gravimon every when felt in unison at various points of their timelines.

We'll call Kurosu Heart, / We who are fighting here today,

It was then that an Energy Lagann- riding on the back of an Energy Sparrowmon- flew straight forward, delivering an impressive five strike blow that sent Quartzmon flying in the direction opposite than the one he should have been sent flying in!

And we'll forge ahead to victory whatever's in our way!

And then every energy apparition flew together into the unique form of XH12G once more, much to the cheering of every universe watching.

This song we now all sing, / Will always be within our Hearts!

"Woaah...!" in another universe that was different from the one we knew, but similar enough to it, a Young Tagiru Akashi stared up at the sky with wide eyes and a grin on his face.

And on the Earth that had been salvaged from a Doomed Timeline, everyone turned to the sky as they watched the menace that had threatened to kill them all get another round of smack down.

Quartzmon snarled as he fought to regain his balance, "How the hell did you get so powerful?"

"Weren't you listening just now?" Kaiyumi asked. "No? Then I guess we'll just have to keep at it!"

And then the Digi-Xros exploded into more energy apparitions once more- different ones this time- that began running circles around the dazed Quartzmon as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

Then- an energy apparition of X4B jumped out of the tornado- diving over Quartzmon as Beelzebemon (In control of that version) fired off a Chaos Flare- blasting Quartzmon in the back and making him howl in surprise.

X4B rejoined the tornado, and Quartzmon whirled around repeatedly as he tried to predict where the next attack would come from.

All things begin, all things will end,

Xros Four and Xros Four Knight leaped out of the tornado next- controlled by Shoutmon and Akari- as they swung their swords across Quartzmon in a unified strike that under normal circumstances would have acted like a scissor cut.

Our hearts turn to the future again:

SigmaArrowmon leaped into the air next- doing a mirror of X4B's back flip- as she fired off her Plasma Engine at him.

The memories of what you've done will not hold us back!

Energy apparitions of Tactimon, Lilithmon, and Blastmon- though they were not present for this- flew forwards, launching attacks against Quartzmon that really made his mind flash back to that moment back on earth where- NO! He was Synchronizing again!

Nothing now will make us fear

A giant energy Kiriha took to the stage next- throwing a windy tornado at Quartzmon even as he gulped at the sight of it.

The road we took in coming here:

It was then that a Xros Five- piloted by Nene of all people- performed a Meteor Buster attack from below- sending cracks up from the bottom of Quartzmon's ball as he howled in pain.

Nothing will draw away our hearts from the here and the now!

And then energy apparitions of BlackWarGreymon and ShineGreymon appeared- diving forwards to attack even as other BlackWarGreymons across many Digital Worlds watched on in approval of the girl's fighting skills.

We have come so far and conquered everything / Trailing in these shadows.

Tagiru- Akari's father- and Chou- Akari's mother- watched on from their small house in Green Zone even as the rest of the village cheered as an Energy Engine King G-Nine launched repeated attacks against Quartzmon.

But now we are here with nothing more to fear at our destiny!

Puppetmon, aboard the deck of Olegmon's Good Friday, laughed as he remembered that Digi-Xros and all the good memories that came from its existence, even as that Digi-Xros entered the tornado once more to be replaced by Victory King Time Seven.

If everything we learned / Was to prepare us for this now,

Corone- in control of this Xros- laughed as she delivered blow after blow after blow- against Quartzmon with a gigantic version of her own weapon form.

We'll protect these precious memories in the deepest of our hearts.

The whirling tornado of Energy Xrosses fused together once more into XH12G, standing a distant ways away from Quartzmon as the jerk finally got to his "feet" once again.

And as the time come close / To a future with you gone,

"RAAAH!" He threw energy blast after energy blast at them- not even caring as an energy version of X5KB's shield appeared before the Xros to diflect every single explosion.

We'll learn and we'll remember this, and that will drive us on!

"Do you STILL not understand it at all?" Kaoru asked. "That you can't win here?"

This song we now all sing

"Heh..." Quartzmon huffed as he righted himself, "of course...I can't win with energy attacks."

Will always sound aloud so strong!

"What...?" Shoutmon narrowed his eyes.

"Then...I'll just have to go with a PHYSICAL ATTACK!" Quartzmon roared as he held his two right arms into the air- and- SNAP- fused them together as he mutated them into a massive, unstable looking Drill. "SO I HERD U LIEK DRILLZ MAN!" He giggled insanely as the drill grew in size- doubling easily and becoming even more unstable looking: "GRAVI DRILL PRESS!"

He roared- flying forward to trying to Giga Drill Break XH12G!

"Fine then!" Shoutmon growled as he threw their right arm into the air: "OCO GLACIAN DRILL!"

With a roar- XH12G flew forwards-

KLASH!

The two drill heads met head on- neither breaking, neither giving, neither faltering as they spun on in opposite directions.

"GIVE UP YET?!" Quartzmon shouted at them.

"We should be asking you the same question!" Simon shouted.

"HAHAHAHA! NO!" Quartzmon roared- trying to push forwards, but finding that they were too evenly matched.

"This isn't going to go anywhere nice for you, Quartzmon!" Akari admonished, "Just stop this nonsense now!"

Quartzmon had no reply.

"oi," Shoutmon said to the inside of the Xros- "On my cue, we switch hands from left to right, OK?"

Nobody understood what he meant by that at first- but agreement was given for the plan.

And so this continued on- with the camera pulling away from the battle to view it from afar. Allowing us to watch as all of the static of the Time Storms from the old universe were pulled into the wake of XH12G's drill, and absolutely nothing going in towards Quartzmon's drill.

The camera would pull out further again- showing us the rotating universes as their orbits were pulled closer together- the gap between them closing in mere fractions of a second.

And then it zoomed in as XH12G's drill cracked.

It cracked- and Quartzmon's drill plowed through the first layer- revealing another drill beneath- and then another and another and ANOTHER.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Quartzmon swore at them as he broke through the last drill only to have his own drill caught by XH12G's left hand- holding the Drill in place without even slowing it's momentum down...

A trick Akari had learned from her Mother.

"HOW!?" Quartzmon roared- "HOW ARE YOU SO POWERFUL!?"

"Didn't you realize?" Shoutmon said calmly- "This fight has been broadcast to every world- Every single world- that you or a version of you has meddled with. Some of them haven't even been touched yet- some have had your influence since the dawn of time" It had to be an illusion- but Quartzmon could see alternating trails of red and blue spiraling around his own Drill.

"The emotions of all those you've toyed with and given misery too combine together to give us strength! You're not just fighting Xros Heart, Quartzmon..." Akari explained.

Now all that is has led us here; we will not die while our hearts still burn.

"You're Fighting the hearts and souls of EVERYTHING AT ONCE!" Kaiyumi smirked. "And Nobody is supporting YOU!"

There's nothing you can do to bring us to an end while our hearts still turn!

"That is who WE ARE!" Shoutmon shouted, "That is XROS HEART!"

"SO ONE LAST TIME!" Akari roared.

"ENGRAVE IT ON YOUR HEART!"

With that- XH12G threw the Drill up into the air as they swung around and delivered a massive punch to Quartzmon's chest as- BTHWRRRRRIIIIRRRR!- Their arm transformed into a giant drill that shot through Quartzmon- and then through his very heart itself, drilling through every single path and divergent timeline that he would ever or had ever taken.

So we keep on the fight, / Because we know it even now:

The Trio of Quartzmon in the Abandoned Warehouse- The possessed Sugou who spat up a drill- and every other Quartzmon and Gravimon and Ryouma out there who would inevitably one day die, be it at Xros Heart's hands or through some other tragic accident or even a naturally given death.

That we cannot be stopped with this song locked in our hearts!

Ryouma- on the SAO earth- would clutch at his heart even as a drill appeared out of nowhere inside of it, not killing him, but giving him a painful, permanent reminder until the day he did die.

We call to Xros our Hearts, / We who are fighting here today,

The drills came out of Quartzmon's body in all directions- flying through the void- propelled by nothing but energy streams of various colors.

And we forge ahead to victory whatever's in our way!

The drills all shot forwards to join one in particular- and then fused together into one final giant spinning drill that- a flash of light later- was held by XH12G.

This song we now all sing, / Is always graven on our hearts!

And then- seconds later- what was left of Quartzmon exploded violently in a multicolored explosion of light and colors that would be continually exploding for the rest of all time.

As the camera pulled away- we viewed the two Universes orbiting their new found sun, in a perfect mirror of what Taiki had originally done not too many years earlier to the Earth and the Digital World around DarkKnightmon.

And then- an Intact Fourth Wall cut to all the different views of people A-Xros all Time and Space as they cheered on for the final defeat of the one who had caused so much trouble.

Then it powered down as all purpose for it was put to an end.

Several Days Later...

Aincrad floated over Reaper Zone as SpaceTrailmon unloaded passengers who had decided to stay in the Lagann Cluster to keep an eye on things now that Quartzmon had been finished off for good.

"Me and dad will be making sure we undo all the bad rep that Quartzmon did," Kaoru explained to Akari, "but don't you worry one bit! We'll keep in touch!" She held up a Xros Time Wrister and grinned.

"I'll hold you too that," Akari smiled.

"Just think about it!" Revolomon said to Zenjirou as Ballistamon unloaded the last of Revolomon's personal belongings, "So many new worlds to discover! Potentially thousands of undiscovered tombs and adventures just waiting to happen!"

"Not to mention the Art too," Zenjirou chuckled.

"N'Gah!" Ballistamon agreed.

"So you two are really staying here, huh?" Nene asked of Dari and Gimmy.

"Yup," Gimmy nodded, "There's a lot out there that we just have to see!"

"Plus, bro won't stop going on about how he wants to see everything there is to see in this universe before going on to others," Dari sighed, even as, in the distance, they heard Kamina trying to chat it up with a girl who looked suspiciously like Yoko from the Gurren Lagann Anime.

"And plus," Gimmy added, "we can't just leave him here alone to get into trou-" SLAP! "-ble."

"That's alright," Nene smiled before hugging the two, "Just remember to come visit every now and again! You two are still Nyarko's god parents after all and I expect you to come meet her!"

"Right!" the duo nodded.

Meanwhile, up on the bridge of SpaceTrailmon...

"So you really think you can handle the jump across universes?" Shoutmon asked.

"Well..." Hideaki scratched at the back of his head, "I've already done a practice jump back and forth. With that sun we made out there between universes as a way marker, I'm fairly certain I can keep jumps consistent across the universes."

"He means 'yes'," Rina translated, "we can act as a ferry boat for the two universes rather easily."

"Cool," Shoutmon let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in. "It makes me feel a lot better knowing we're not leaving everyone behind in this universe for good."

"Personally," Rina began, "I'm not so certain if that'd even be allowed to happen after all the trouble we went through to get here."

"Heh," Shoutmon chuckled, "yeah, the universe does seem fit to give us reward for all these trials, doesn't it?"

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE VOID_ _ _| THREE DAYS LATER_ _ _|

"So we've put this off for a while now because we were busy." Shoutmon said as he, Akari, and Kaiyumi walked down an empty street of Algade town. "But for sure, we need to know. What exactly were you thinking pulling off a plan like that without our fore-knowledge or permission?"

"It was after we got back from the doomed timeline," Kaiyumi explained, "and we knew we were heading into the Cluster to track down Taiki and Sally...There was also a large chance we'd find Quartzmon here too." She pulled out a burnt scrap of paper from her pocket- so small and tiny that you could not even recognize it as the photograph it had once been. "So we came up with a plan. We sent a letter and a chunk of Quartzmon Tower crystal to Emmit's past self."

"You...you sent a piece of crystal?" Akari asked as her eyes widened, "Why would you...?" She shook her head, "What the hell possessed you to think that was a good idea!?"

"We knew that the Towers had an inherent ability to force a change to a timeline to overwrite the existing events," Kaiyumi explained. "Gureimon found that out the hard way, remember?"

"Right..." Shoutmon nodded, "And then with all the Towers in the Doomed Time line..."

"I figured...no...We figured we had nothing to lose," Kaiyumi shrugged as she pocketed the scrap of photograph and pulled out the letter instead. "It was Emmit's idea in the first place. I went along with it because...he was the only one who'd be affected, heavily."

"But he's been a part of our timeline!" Shoutmon explained, "Quartzmon's too!"

"That's why we did it the way we did." Kaiyumi explained, "All that original letter said to do was to put off the Gate experiment for nine months, then go through with it as planned right as he destroyed the crystal, forcing it to branch at that exact moment. From Quartzmon's perspective, nothing would be different- just a slight itch of a memory that might have only affected one doomed copy anyways."

"...So what happened then?" Akari asked. "Why was he fading out?"

"Because he became a different person the moment he read the letter," Kaiyumi explained, "and that butterfly effect only managed to catch up to him right when we were ready to transform Aincrad like we did."

"How could you plan something like that?" Shoutmon asked- "This sounds more and more like you were just winging it."

"Well, that source for the coordinates?" Kaiyumi held up the letter, "That was a future me who-"

BAM BAM BAM! PCHOO! KRASH! tumble rooooollllll...

It was then that a trash can rolled in front of them- having been knocked over by something that had appeared in a familiar sound effect just in the street to their immediate left.

*cue Back To The Future Part III Main Theme*

Everyone stood there in silence for a few moments.

[0:04]

"Did someone just...?" Shoutmon cut himself off before he finished that thought.

"I think they did..." Akari answered that unasked question.

[0:10]

The trio of them went to round the corner to see what it was.

[0:15]

"W...What the...?" Shoutmon stared at the sight before them in confusion.

Kaiyumi, however, seemed to be grinning in delight.

[0:23]

It was a DeLorean- covered in frost, and just sitting in the middle of the street and looking all the world like it had been ripped straight out of the first Movie's finishing act, for it had no Mister Fusion on the back, but instead a long lightning rod.

It's vents let out a pulse of smoke and Kaiyumi let out a cheer. "IT WORKED!"

[0:34]

Shoutmon and Akari just stared at the sight before them for a few moments- Kaiyumi running for the driver's door and using her foot to kick at the door handle instincitvely, not even bothering to use her hands on the frozen surface.

With a grind and a hiss- the door flew open- and the Driver climbed out- "Great Scott...!" The man just at the edge of his twenties said as he pulled off a pair of goggles off of his eyes, revealing familiar grey eyes beneath, and into his messy brown hair. "Did it actually...?" He looked at the girl in front of him. "You!"

"Me!" Kaiyumi grinned.

"It worked!" they shouted at once.

Shoutmon and Akari's jaws nearly dropped once they placed the driver's voice as one they recognized.

"T-Taiki!?" Akari gasped.

"How did you adjust for the temporal decay drift?" Kaiyumi asked.

"I used a signal trace once we saw the fight on Television!" The man- not actually Taiki, but instead a younger Emmit Brown- explained. "And with the Flux Capacitor adjustments you suggested, we could leap across space as well as time too so we just tracked you down once you got out of the void!"

"THAT'S AWESOME!" Kaiyumi nearly squealed in delight. "I can't believe that you were able to get the right amount of power for the-!"

"Wait wait wait~" Akari spoke up- "What the hell is happening here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Came a familiar female voice as the passenger side door opened up, and a woman of about the same age, carrying a young baby in her arms, climbed out of the Time Machine.

"S-SALLY!?" Shoutmon nearly fainted on his feet.

"No, actually," The woman smiled, her bright blue eyes sparkling with life, "My name's Clara, Clara Clayton-Brown."

[1:05]

Shoutmon and Akari stood there for a moment in silence- glanced at each other, then back at the two people who had climbed out of the machine before screaming out as one: "WHAT!?"

Kaiyumi rolled her eyes at the shenanigans of her friends, before turning towards Clara. "Hi, I'm Kaiyumi, a pleasure to meet you, finally! Emmit told me all about you." She smiled, "It was a different Emmit, though..but still...It's an honor to finally meet you."

"And it's an honor to meet the girl who saved our lives too," Clara smiled back. "I certainly appreciate it.

"The other me, he didn't just fade out, did he?" the present Emmit asked.

"Nope," Kaiyumi shook her head, "He went and synchronized every Quartzmon. Made sure that you guys saw it all everywhere and everywhen."

"That we did," Emmit nodded.

"So how did you escape?" Kaiyumi asked, "I never knew how you were going to pull that part off...!"

"We drove this car straight into Quartzmon's face!" Clara replied, "You should've seen the look he had on when we jumped straight through him!"

"Those fire trails you theorized would show up probably flew straight into his eyes too!" Emmit added with a laugh, though it faded quickly, "Serves him right for blowing up my home twice over like that."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Kaiyumi apologized, "I couldn't risk changing the timeline any more than I already had." She sniffed, "I'm sorry that I couldn't save more people and..." she started crying.

"It's alright though..." Emmit said, pulling the girl into a comforting hug, "somehow...I doubt even if I had made it back, that I could have saved them all from that beast."

"At any rate, though!" Clara smiled, "We've got a chance to start new lives now." She walked around the car, "And I'm sure Jules here will be really happy to be living in this new place now."

"Jules...?" Kaiyumi looked at the baby, "As in Jules Verne?"

"Yup," Clara nodded, "We both decided that was a nicer name, especially once we got that letter of yours."

"As long as we could save one extra life then..." Kaiyumi sniffed back her tears, then realized something. "Oh! Right!" She called over to Shoutmon and Akari, "Get over here you two! I still haven't introduced you yet!"

*cue Butterfly*

The King and Queen of the Digital World- were shaken out of their confused state with that, and so walked over to join Kaiyumi, Emmit, Clara, and the little baby Jules...

And with that- the camera pulled far out of Aincrad- into the void- and then further Fourteen Years into the future...

Where it settled down upon the Earth that our heroes had rescued, zooming down further towards a house on a hill top that had seemingly grown up out of the ground out of a key that had been planted like a seed.

Gokigen na chou ni natte kira meku kaze ne notte

Shoutmon, who had retired on earth after being a King for some ten odd years in total, called up to the higher rooms from the kitchen as he struggled to cook something on the stove top.

Ima sugu kimi ai ni yukou

Akari, as she tried to fix up her hair into its usual style, called down a recognition as she just decided to leave her hair loose today.

Yokei na koto nante wasureta hou ga mashi sa

Meanwhile- in a laboratory somewhere in the old NERV Headquarters- Kaiyumi worked on finishing a device that would one day revolutionize the world with a Portal Teleportation grid that would make transit between Earth and the Digital World easier and quicker.

Kore ijou shareteru jikan wa nai

She called over to her Lab assistant, Simon, who, once again, was woken up after having fallen asleep on the job.

Nani ga WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW, sora ni todoku no darou

Meanwhile- back at the Hinomoto residence- a girl with long flowing red hair, and equally piercing crimson eyes tied her hair up into long twin tails before smoothing down her school uniform and flashed a smile into the mirror.

Dakedo WO WO WO WO WO, ashita no yotei mo wakaranai

And with that- she ran down the steps- grabbed a piece of toast from the kitchen- and hurled herself out the front door where her three friends who were also going to the same school waited outside for her.

The girl- Kuuko- held up the hand holding her toast and called out, "Let's Go!"

The silver haired, green eyed, Nyarko grinned, "YEAH!"

Mugendai na yume no ato no nanimo nai yo no naka ja

Meanwhile- on the Castle Aincrad, presently in orbit over some strange rainbow colored planet whose sun orbited it instead of the other way around...

Yuu, Lizbeth, and Corone all stared out onto the plaza from the control room, watching as Yui was demonstrating various skills that anyone hoping to join the PawnChessmonz Corp. would need to have.

All of those eight PawnChessmonz from Lake Zone stood there either judging her skills and rating the improvement over last time, or were simply cheering the girl on.

Sou sha itoshii omoi omo makesou ni naru kedo

Terezie and Strider shared a nod once Yui had finished her routine, and handed her a blue ribbon that indicated that she'd passed the test.

Yui threw a fist into the air and let out a cheer.

Stay shigachi na imeji darake no tayorinai tsubasa demo

Meanwhile- in an unknown Zone in the Lagann Cluster, Gimmy and Dari- who had since become better known as Lagann and Gurren- flew through the air inside Lagann towards unseen adventure.

The girl leaned over and kissed the boy piloting the armor on the cheek.

Kitto toberu sa, ON MY LOVE!

On their way to school- the four kids chatted randomly about things.

Ukareta chou ni natte ichizu na kaze ni notte

The dark haired boy- age 15- is the son of Beelzebmon and Mervamon, named "Mahiro." He was presently lamenting Nyarko's current idea of stealing a DeLorean and taking it for a Joy Ride across the multiverse rather than going to school.

Doko mademo kimi ni ai ni yukou

Nyarko- age 16- laughed his concerns off, putting her arm around him and claiming that they'd be fine.

Aimai na kotobatte igai ni benri datte

Kuuko- Age 14- thought that while taking the DeLorean would be fun, they still should go to school so nobody would suspect that they were doing anything.

That made Nyarko sputter in surprise- and caused the fourth member of their group- the 15 year old Jules- to laugh as well.

Sakenderu hitto songu kikinagara

The view switched over to the Digital World- where Rei was fussing over Nene and Kiriha's second child- a small, 10 year old boy with blond hair and blue eyes- by name of Hasta- who was presently at home sick due to a cold.

She giggled to herself- one of the Denizens' Knights, and here she was playing baby sitter!

Nani ga WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW, kono machi ni hibiku no darou

Elsewhere- Nene and Echidna were dealing with the aftermath of a terrible earth-quake that nobody had seen coming. Trying to help heal any injured she came across while also trying to see to it that everyone had gotten out of the troublesome region alive.

Dakedo WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW, kitai shitetemo shikata nai

Meanwhile- Kiriha and Typheus worked out a legal dispute with an Animation Company from a recently discovered universe that claimed that they were infringing on their copyrights by simply existing as real people when they should be 'fictional'.

Said Legal Dispute ended with Typheus summoning a gale-force wind inside the cramped room while saying: "Who's Fictional Now?"

Mugendai na yume no ato no yarusenai yo no naka ja

Meanwhile- elsewhere in the Lagann Cluster- Kiichi's Locomon rode over a train track- with Revolomon, Ballistamon, and the Frontier gang all riding on the tops of the passenger cars- each ready to leap across onto the train that they were about to pass by.

They did such- much to the surprise of the bandit leader who had tried to hijack the train in question for his own nefarious purposes.

Sou sa joushiki hazure mo waruku wa nai ka na

On earth- Tagiru and Chou waved and smiled as the four kids- one of whom being their own Grand-daughter- walked up to the school building, chatting all the way.

Stay shisou na imeeji wo someta gikochinai tsubasa demo

Elsewhere- in another Lab in NERV HQ- Emmit and Clara finished their final prototype model of the Energy Shield that would be used years in the past on a different earth to save everyone from a deadly explosion.

Kitto toberu sa, ON MY LOVE!

The camera then panned out to float across the Multi-verse as a credits screen would fly past the screen in fast-forwards- carrying out all of the necessary information in such a short span of time.

As this happened- we would get screenshots of various things happening across the Multiverse.

Such as: in a certain Tamers Universe- the battle against a rampaging Dioboromon Tower was brought to an end by a certain Gallantmon Crimson mode stabbing it through the Hour-Glass icon on it's chest.

In the universe where Yolei and Davis had came from- the dynamic duo had unveiled a plan to unite their Earth and Digital World through common sense Peace meetings and Ramen Noodles.

And in a particular Savers Universe, Kristy and Agumon would scold their young daughter- who had been named Rythm after much debate- for stealing a Vortex Manipulator and jumping off across the universe to see the sights without realizing that the device was a prototype and couldn't be controlled.

Mugendai no yume no ato no nani mo nai yo no naka ja,

With that all said and done- the camera drifted down into some random early morning sky as SpaceTrailmon zipped through the atmosphere- piloted presently by Kotone and Ren.

Sou sa itoshii omoi mo makesou ni naru kedo

In the cargo bay- Tactimon, Lilithmon, and Blastmon each relaxed after a successful mission, even as Tsuwamon played a game of cards with the little mouse ChuChumon.

Stay shigachi na imeeji darake no tayorinai tsubasa demo

And with a flick of a lever- Kotone accelerated SpaceTrailmon up to 88 Miles Per Hour...!

Kitto toberu sa... OH YEAH!

BAM BAM BAM PCHOO!

They vanished into a burst of light and a set of fire trails.

Mugendai na yume no ato no yarusenai yo no naka ja

And from there- they re-appeared over the Earth-Digital World solar System- descending towards one of the Digital World's sea-side ports.

Sou sa joushiki hazure mo waruku wa nai ka na

It was there that Dorulumon, Zenjirou, and Lila waved at the incoming ship as it sailed past them- towards the awaiting dock where Mizuki, Hangyomon, ChibiKamemon (Now not so Chibi), and PrincessBastemon were waiting for them to land.

Stay shisou na imeeji wo someta gikochinai tsubasa demo

Meanwhile as the ship landed- Haruki and Witchmon watched it all from a cozy little bench overlooking the entire sea port.

Kitto Toberu Sa...ON MY LOVE!

And the camera panned out- to show the Digital World and Ringed Earth orbiting their sun in perfect harmony for all time to come- further out to see the orbit of the Two Universes around their sun- and then out again to show similar universes floating in the endless, starry expanse that held all possibilites of anything that had ever been or ever could be.

CLICK.

The Fourth Wall shut off with the flick of a single switch.

Kaoru sighed deeply as she observed all the progress her friends had made over the years, turning around to face the doors that lead into her office.

"Well," She said as she fixed her tie through sheer habit, "Here I am." With a chuckle, she reached for the door handle, "Come and get me, World."

And with that, she opened the door and prepared to step out into the Press Conference on the Bagura Company's 15th Resurrection Anniversary.

FIN!

A.N. 15,380 words total for the above chapter, not counting this Last Author's Note. Just shy of the previous chapter's 16,000 some words. All together...this story is around 650,000 words, has taken roughly Three Years to write start to finish, and has made up a significant portion of my life over said years. Much has changed with my life. Much yet remains the same. And yet... Here I am. I tried to show where every character would be by the end of this story... Sadly, I'm very much aware of the fact that I've missed MANY characters. Epilogues are hard to write, you know. BUT yeah. This is it. The Final Chapter. I'd like to thank KathAveara for helping me out with the Song Lyrics for the final fight. That fight just wouldn't be as awesome as it was without your help. :) Thanks also go to all the reviewers who stuck with this story from beginning to end. You all helped out by keeping me motivated to keeping it all awesome. I'd also like to thank BlueIke of Deviant Art for allowing me to quote his two-shot comic detailing the very events seen in this chapter. Dan's description of a Zone Ripple was just what was needed there. :)

And now, Life moves on for me, and I'll be working to finish some of those older stories of mine that I've put off to work on this story. That said- this long adventure will always hold a special place in my heart, and I'll be revisiting this universe on occasion. I've still got ideas for future stories and events... So keep your eyes peeled, folks. ;) You never know when someone from XWAU02 will pop up in the mean time.

Shorah, and thanks again for reading,

_DTC