Seductive Shadows

LadyDevimon

Takato walked for the both of them, BlackTailmon resting in his arms.

He wasn't sure whether she was tired or just wanted to be carried. He'd asked her, but she just gave him a catlike smile.

He'd laughed and carried her without comment afterwards. She deserved a rest after such a long day, anyway.

So he walked, leaving the battlefield that would serve as the only memorial to the many dead Mechanorimon behind. He wasn't sure where he was going, so he just picked a direction and headed straight instead. If he found a village, he could ask them for information about any important places or landmarks and head towards that instead, but until then he had no place in particular to go.

But he didn't mind. This world…it was peaceful, in its own way. At least when no one was trying to kill them.

So he stroked BlackTailmon's fur gently as she slept in his arms and continued walking.

He wasn't sure how long he walked, as guessing by the light of day was a futile gesture in the Digital World, but he eventually left the forest. He entered a long grassy field which stretched as far as his eyes could see, but the Digital World's night came over him as he walked through it.

He didn't like traveling in an unfamiliar area when he couldn't see, so he decided to stop, at least until BlackTailmon awoke. She could guide him through the darkness, if need be; a benefit of having the eyes of a cat, he supposed. He found a nice place to sit and closed his eyes-

And snapped them back open when he heard something.

"BlackTailmon." He whispered.

Had he fallen asleep? He'd learnt to do that; to fall asleep at a moment's notice in order to get as much sleep as possible. You could never rely on getting an uninterrupted night's sleep in the Digital World, as this situation demonstrated.

But if he'd fallen asleep, how long had it been? It was still night-time, but there was no moon in the Digital World, nor did the darkness begin to thicken or lessen with time. On moment it was bright day, the next it was pitch black night. Dawn could be seconds away. Or hours. It would have changed nothing in the sky.

The creature in his lap shifted. Yellow eyes opened, shining even in the lack of light.

"I hear it." She said in an equally low voice.

He began to stroke her fur, drawing her attention without making noise.

"Your eyes are glowing." He said.

She understood without him explaining anything and closed them.

"I can use my ears just as well." She said.

He stopped stroking her fur, then. He stopped moving at all, and so did she.

He shut his eyes and they both began to rely on their ears. He tried to listen for any strange sounds, but it was hard to hear anything over the heartbeat that was suddenly pounding in his ears, but he tried his best anyway. He heard the wind rustling the grass, the faint sound of BlackTailmon's quiet breaths, the sound of his own nervous swallow, and the sound of movement-

BlackTailmon stiffened, readying herself to move, though whether to run or pounce he couldn't tell. Takato wanted to do the same, wanted the get ready to move, but experience wouldn't let him.

A Tamer always keeps his Digivice on hand. The unwritten rule one of being a Digimon Tamer.

And so his hand slide to the Digivice clipped to his pants without him even thinking about it.

He felt it before his mind caught to his body.

BlackTailmon's Digivice.

He relaxed, though he wasn't sure why.

He had no cards, though; what could he do with it?

A thought struck him.

"Keep your eyes closed." He murmured.

He received no reply.

There was another shift in the grass, and a barely perceptible tremble went through his partner's body.

He kept his own relaxed; if whoever was out there saw them, he was bigger. He'd be noticed first.

They had to think he was unconscious.

There was a long, silent pause. His partner trembled nervously at the wait, her desire to act barely kept in check.

Takato empathized, but he had to stay still.

So he let her tremble for the both of them.

The seconds passed so slowly it hurt, but then he heard it.

The sound of movement had returned.

And it was coming this way.

It had to get closer, he told himself. But it was hard not to react when a threat was approaching.

So he let it get closer and closer, the sound of its movement's scratching at his mind like an itch.

BlackTailmon shifted, about to move.

Takato's eyes snapped open as her feet left his chest. He lifted his Digivice in one smooth movement and-

It exploded into light. It was even brighter then he'd expected; so, so bright. The light felt like someone shoving their thumbs into his eyes, and for a moment he was blinded as his night vision was sent to hell.

But that was fine.

The same went for BlackTailmon's victim, after all. Takato's ability to seen was unnecessary for this fight.

A startled cry tore itself from their victim's mouth, but it was cut off just as quickly by a feline yowl and the sound of an impact.

There were sounds of a struggle for several seconds, but Takato just waited for his eyes to adjust. At times like these, a Tamer should have faith in their partner. That was rule two.

"Don't kill him." He ordered, blinking as his vision slowly improved. "He could be useful."

The sounds stopped an instant later.

"It's safe." BlackTailmon said a second after that.

Takato strode towards her voice as his eyes finished adjusting.

He had to smile at the sight.

"Well, well, well…look what the cat dragged in. Think he'll cooperate?" He asked.

"He better." She snarled.

Agumon X whimpered on the ground.

XxXXxX

Minutes later, the Agumon was sitting across from Takato. He seemed docile and obedient, something that probably had more to do with BlackTailmon's proximity than anything else.

Takato was fine with that, as long it got them answers.

"Let's put something on the table right now." Takato began. "Neither of us are professional interrogators. Quite frankly, neither of us knows the first thing about interrogating. So here's how we're going to do this. I'm going to ask you some questions while BlackTailmon, I don't know, tries to stare into your soul or something. And you're going to answer my questions or she's going to start using here claws. Got it?"

BlackTailmon didn't blink; she'd been glaring at the Agumon silently ever since she'd subdued him. The Child Digimon avoided her predatory yellow eyes but said nothing.

"Where are you from?" Takato asked. It seemed like a good question to him; hopefully the Agumon came from an urban area. If so, they could get directions from him.

That alone would be worth it, never mind the other information the X Digimon could cough up.

The Agumon sneered.

"What's it to y-"

BlackTailmon struck him across the face as soon as she heard bravado in his voice. Takato opened his mouth to protest but closed it when he saw that she hadn't used her claws.

"Answer the question." The Adult Virus ordered.

"You can't do this to me." The Child snarled, more angry than sacred. "Don't you know who I am?"

Takato frowned when he heard the nasal quality of his voice, but decided to let his partner handle it.

She hit him again.

"You're an Agumon. A Child Digimon who's trying to act tough." She said, dismissively.

Takato stepped in at that point, not missing a beat.

"You're a Vaccine type and an X Digimon. Normally, Agumon is a Reptile Digimon, but you're different." He said. "The X-Antibody changed you. Now you're a Dinosaur Digimon. Those blue strips on you are a lot like Greymon's."

He'd checked his Digivice subtly a minute ago. If there was one thing he'd learnt, it was that it sometimes unnerved Digimon that a Tamer could just pull up all that information about them.

Not always.

But sometimes.

The Agumon opened and closed his mouth a few times, struck speechless.

BlackTailmon took it from there.

"Allow me to translate." She said, flexing her claws. "You're nothing. You're an X Digimon in a world that hates you. You're hunted by Yggdrasil. You're just lucky enough not to have been caught yet, because you're so weak nobody cares. They have bigger things to worry about; Adults, Perfects, and Ultimates. I could kill you right now and nobody would mourn, because nobody would even care."

The claws moved closer to the Dinosaur's eyes.

Takato's voice slid in smoothly, as if they'd rehearsed this.

"But we're all reasonable people here. If you tell us what we want, we'll let you go. So how about it? Feel like talking yet?"

The Agumon looked at him silently for a moment, before looking at the ground.

"The Urd Terminal." He spat.

Takato had no idea what he was talking about but didn't show it.

"That wasn't so hard was it? How do you get to the Urd Terminal?"

Takato listened carefully as Agumon rattled off a few vague details. Go northeast until you hit the road, follow it until you reach the city it leads to, and use the Chronicle Layer System.

He listened closely, committing them to memory, but…

He had no idea what he was talking about.

Time to change that.

"What is the Urd Terminal?" He asked, after he was sure the X Digimon was finished. He had waited to asked, just in case. He didn't want the Agumon to have a bargaining chip, after all.

Now, even if he clammed up or tried something funny, they could dispose of him and check for themselves.

Agumon stared at him like he'd grown another head. He didn't say anything until Takato nodded at his partner, who growled and pressed her claws a little bit closer.

"Wait, wait, just…I'll tell you! It's just…you don't know?" He asked.

The Tamer stared at him impassively.

"Are you…you're new." The Digimon decided. Takato hummed noncommittally. "You must be if you don't know."

Takato shifted his eyes to his partner again and the Agumon must have seen him because he started talking.

"This world has three Terminals; Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld. Past, Present, and Future. This is the Verdandi Terminal; Skuld is more futuristic while Urd is more primitive. The layouts of all the Terminals are the same, geographically, but it's like huge amounts of time passed between them."

Takato frowned.

"And the Chronicle Layer System?"

"Is the only way of traveling between them."

He nodded in understanding.

"Is something wrong with the Urd Terminal that made you come here?" He asked. He needed to know this before he made any plans for going there.

Agumon shook his head.

"It's no different than usual, but I'd rather be in the Verdandi Terminal."

"Why?"

"Each Terminal has their own advantages and disadvantages. Urd is the farthest from Yggdrasil's sight and is the safest for X Digimon in a way…but it's also a region of volcanoes and jungles, full of some of the strongest Digimon around. Skuld is almost completely urbanized and is safe because of it; things like injuries and sicknesses are basically non-existent there…But Yggdrasil is impossible to hide from there."

"And this Terminal is safe geographically and not constantly monitored?" Takato guessed.

Agumon nodded.

Takato's eyes flickered towards his partner, wondering what she thought of this. Their eyes met before she looked back at Agumon.

Takato understood without being told.

Keep asking questions; we'll talk later.

"One last question and we'll let you go. Where are you heading now, Agumon?" He asked.

Agumon hesitated. He obviously didn't want to meet either of them again.

But not as much as he wanted to be away from them right now.

"I heard there's a town nearby." He said. "One that's safe for X Digimon."

Takato looked at him, feeling the bottom drop out of his stomach.

He knew what he was talking about.

"The one back that way?" He asked, pointing in the direction they'd come from.

Agumon nodded slowly and he closed his eyes. He was silent for a moment.

"Yggdrasil found it. It's gone now. I'm sorry." He told the Digimon, standing up. "You're free to go now, Agumon. Thanks for the information. Let's go, BlackTailmon."

The catlike Digimon climbed up the length of his body to rest on his shoulders.

He was surprised when she spoke up.

"If you reach the forest, it should be fine to rest for a few days. Everyone that works for Yggdrasil there is dead and nobody will come to check for a while…probably." She said.

Agumon, who'd stood and was about to scamper off, paused and looked back.

"What happened to them?"

BlackTailmon gave him a catlike smile.

"Someone killed them all."

Agumon ducked away at that and they watched him until he was out of sight. Which, grant, wasn't far in the light of the Digivice.

They looked at each other afterwards.

"What do you think? Should we try it?" He asked, partially to her, partially to himself.

"It's not like we have anywhere else to be."

Takato conceded that point.

"If nothing else, there's supposed to be a town by the Chronicle Layer System, too." He mused.

"Let's go, then."

XxXXxX

They ghosted into town on a windy day.

Takato vaguely wished he had a cloak or a cape to bellow dramatically in the wind, but he didn't voice it out loud.

They didn't attract too many looks, thankfully; BlackTailmon's ability to hypnotize was shining through. Otherwise, he'd have stood out like a sore thumb, being a human and all.

"Nice place." He commented absently. "Ironstone City, huh?"

The proximity to the Chronic Layer System must have affected the geography or something, he decided. Either that, or this was another weird area of the Digital World.

Either way, the name was fitting; there weren't any rocks or stones anywhere within about five miles of the city. It was all metal; rock-shaped iron, steel roads, brass grass, and so on. Even the river nearby seemed to have been made out of liquid metal, though it had turned back into normal water at the boundary of the area.

His partner nodded silently; she didn't talk much when she was hypnotizing. It must have taken a lot of concentration. Or maybe she just didn't like crowds.

He entertained that thought for a while. It would make since; her history with groups of other Digimon wasn't exactly the best. Still, it would be insensitive of him to ask such things, so he kept those thoughts to himself for now.

Instead, Takato chose to look around at the signs and landmarks in the area. The path to the Chronic Layer System was well marked, but that wasn't what he was looking for. They'd need to leave before too long; BlackTailmon couldn't keep people from noticing them forever. But before they left…

"Let's hang around here for a while, BlackTailmon. It's your first time in a real city, right?" He asked. "It's been awhile for me, too. We can go buy ourselves some real food and stay the night somewhere."

"…We don't have any money…"

Takato nodded at that, still searching the area.

"Yeah, but we're in a city now. I'm sure there's a way for us to make money around here somewhere – Hello." He said, stopping as he saw a sign.

He glanced at his partner as he got some ideas.

"Hey, BlackTailmon…do you mind using those eyes of yours to help me gamble a bit." He asked, changing directions.

She stood still for a minute, gazing at his back incredulously.

"…What's gambling?" She asked after catching up.

Takato pondered that for a minute, thinking of how to best answer. He decided to just go with the definition of the word.

"It's the wagering of money on an event with an uncertain outcome. A game of luck, basically. If you win, you get more money back." He said.

"But we don't have any money in the first place. And if it's a game of luck, how are we going to win?"

Takato smiled and patted her on the head.

"I'm pretty lucky." He said. "Besides, I have no intention of playing fair. Have you ever heard that old superstition of black cats?"

She shook her head.

"Remind me to tell you later. For now, feel up for some more hypnosis?"

XxXXxX

Less than an hour later, Takato lounged comfortably in his chair at the table. BlackTailmon rested in his lap and he gently stroked her fur. She purred like the kitten she was.

Nobody seemed to notice. Not her presence, not the sounds she was making, not even her actions were noticed. They also didn't seem to notice that they were playing at the same table as a human.

Takato wondered what they actually saw. They were aware he was there, obviously; he was getting dealt cards and they responded to him. But they didn't seem to notice who or what he was.

But more than that, they didn't notice that they were cheating like motherfuckers.

BlackTailmon took looks at the other players cards, people with good hands mysteriously chose to fold, his bluffs always worked, people with bad hands would wager surprising amounts. Confidence and foolishness seemed to abound at this table.

Which was why they were raking in cash. Takato had enough at this point to stand up and walk away. Point of fact, he had enough to do that most of an hour ago. At this point, he was going to have to do something just because carrying around this much hard cash would be annoying.

Maybe they should have a night on the town? That sounded like a good idea. He'd take BlackTailmon to the most expensive restaurant in town and eat until they were stuffed and then go to the best hotel for the night.

He absently wondered if BlackTailmon had ever actually had a meal that she didn't have to hunt herself. Or if she'd ever slept in an actual bed.

He doubted it.

Well, he had cooked for her since he'd met her, but it wasn't really the same. It didn't matter, he supposed. It would change tonight, after all.

But it would have to wait. He could get up and leave and he would shortly.

But he had one more reason to be here.

Information gathering.

Between his partner's Cat's Eye and their own desire to keep him playing in the hopes of winning back their money, the others at the table had been feeling chatty.

Most of it was of dubious usefulness to him; the economy of Ironstone, the recent actions of X Digimon, Yggdrasil's responses, etc.

But every once in a while…

"Have you heard about the Royal Knights?" A Starmon asked, looking at his cards.

Takato had no idea what he was talking about, so he listened vaguely as he put forth a modest bet. It wouldn't matter even if he lost it – and he wasn't going to.

"Which ones?" He asked absently, guessing there were a number of them based on the plural.

"They're hunting a human." Starmon said, whispering conspiratorially.

Takato froze but quickly forced himself to relax. It was unlikely anyone would notice through the hypnosis, but…

BlackTailmon, on the other hand, stiffened noticeably and stayed that way until Takato began messaging the muscles on her side. She relaxed slowly; she loved it when he did that.

"A human? Here?" Gottsumon asked.

"There haven't been humans here since the Tamers!" The higher leveled but nearly identical Icemon added.

Starmon probably would have smirked if he had a mouth.

"That's what makes it so interesting. The ones doing the hunting are Sleipmon and…Dukemon." He said, as if he was revealing the greatest secret in the world.

As far as Takato was concerned, he was.

The hand that was messaging BlackTailmon stopped moving. His entire body stopped moving. He gasped so loudly he probably would have drawn every eye in the room if not for his partner's eyes. And the only reason he was able to keep from making an extremely embarrassing noise was the fact that, for some reason, he couldn't make any noises at all.

Nobody made any signs of noticing except BlackTailmon. She looked up at his with concerned yellow eyes.

He worked his jaw a few times, but still couldn't speak. Instead, he took a deep breath, and let his poker face fall over him. He smiled down at BlackTailmon with a reassurance he did not feel before looking Starmon.

"Is that so?" He said, calmly. Or he tried to, at least. It came out kind of chocked.

Even so, Starmon didn't notice.

He made a note to himself. He was definitely taking BlackTailmon for a night on the town. She deserved it.

He paused for a moment to clear his throat and tried again.

"You know, I've been around. And I heard…" He paused again, unsure. This was risky. This was really risky. They apparently knew about the Tamers, but how much did they know? If what he was about to say was something he shouldn't know…he could ruin everything.

His resolve hardened. It didn't matter. It ashamed him to admit it, it made him feel like a monster, but…these Digimon? These innocent gamblers?

He would kill them for this information, if that's what it took.

"I heard that there was a Dukemon among the Tamers. Partnered to one, I mean." He said his voice now much firmer.

He removed his hand from BlackTailmon, getting out of her way, just in case. She understood; whether from what he said or his actions, she understood. She tensed, ready to lunge at any moment.

Takato looked around the table.

This was the moment of truth. Whether they lived or died…whether he would let them live or kill them…

It would be decided by their reactions.

Starmon nodded enthusiastically.

"That's what I heard, too!" he said excitedly.

It saved his life.

He put his hand back on BlackTailmon and she relaxed again.

"Do you think the human he's looking for is his partner?" Icemon asked, just as excited.

Gottsumon shook his head.

"What are the odds of that?"

"Yeah." Takato said. "What are the odds?"

They continued playing. They went on for another hour before Icemon and Gottsumon left. Takato apologized to Starmon as they did, saying he had to leave himself. He stood and left calmly, not the first to leave and not the last.

But he left without as much as a second glance.

He had things to do.

XxXXxX

"Takato…" BlackTailmon began. "Are you okay?"

"Hm?" Takato asked, turning towards her. He'd been looking out the window of the restaurant. He was keeping his word; they were in the fanciest restaurant in town, not to mention the fanciest restaurant Takato had ever been in.

The food, of literally every type on the menu that either he or BlackTailmon had found even remotely interesting, was piled on the table. There was no way they'd be able to eat it all, but BlackTailmon seemed willing to try, and was inhaling food like she'd never eaten before.

Takato tried to chuckle at his friends antics, but he couldn't. Instead, he absentmindedly picked at his food while looking out the window.

He was lost in thought until his partner voiced her concerns.

"Ah…" He said, understanding after a short pause. "…Not really."

He didn't bother lying. He didn't even bother trying. He wasn't one to keep things from his friends, and he'd learnt that having others to help bare burdens made things easier.

He liked to think BlackTailmon would do the same if their situations were reversed.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Is it about that Dukemon guy they told us about?"

Takato nodded.

"Dukemon is…the one I'm looking for."

BlackTailmon blinked, confused.

"Then, this is a good thing, right?"

He gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"I'm happy." He said and it was true. "I'm happy to know my friend is alive. Don't get me wrong; my first instinct was to run off to find him. But…it seems things are a bit more complicated than that."

She'd stopped eating to listen.

"How so?"

"What are the Royal Knights?" Takato asked, not expecting an answer and not getting one. "They seem to be a group, or an organization, or something. Whatever they are, however, one thing is for sure; Dukemon's a member. But what does that mean? Are they an army? A politically party? A professional baseball team? What?"

He looked out the window again when BlackTailmon didn't reply.

"And who is Sleipmon? He's partnered with Dukemon, but…I don't know a 'Sleipmon.' He's probably not one of the others, even taking into account whatever made Guilmon evolve."

"What?" BlackTailmon asked, confused by that statement. Both parts of it.

Takato looked back towards her and elaborated.

"The one I'm looking for was my partner Guilmon. He is…was a Child level Digimon. Dukemon is his Ultimate form."

Her eyes went wide.

"Ultamate? He was able to go Ultimate?" She asked, amazed.

Takato chuckled.

"Don't look so impressed; you're strong and you'll get even stronger. He and I were able to get to Ultimate together…there's no reason you and I can't do the same." He said.

She nodded resolvedly.

"But…the last time I saw him, he'd been reduced to Baby level…" Takato continued. "…Have I really been gone so long?"

Takato's eyes became a bit sad. BlackTailmon saw it and quickly changed the subject.

"What about the others you mentioned?" She asked, referring to the other thing that confused her.

Takato noticed the change and went along with it gratefully.

"We weren't alone." He said. "Back when Guilmon was with me, we had a lot of friends…we were called Tamers; humans bonded to Digimon. If I heard that Dukemon was running around with someone, I'd figure it'd be Renamon or Terriermon. But…Sleipmon isn't an evolution of either of them, that I know of. Unless they have an alternate evolution path I don't know about…"

He lowered his eyes.

"Did something happen to the others?" He asked, more to himself than anyone else.

"Maybe it's a different Dukemon?" BlackTailmon suggested.

Takato shook his head immediately, before pausing a moment. He then shook his head a bit more slowly.

"I want to say that's impossible, but I know better than to say something like that when the Digital World is involved. However, I don't think so. There's only one Guilmon."

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but she still wanted to know.

"Why?"

"Because I created him." Takato said casually. "He's one of a kind."

She stared silently at him. This conversation was going to make her reevaluate her partner; Ultimate Digimon, creating life…she wondered if she should ask about his history.

She resolved to do so later. But in the meantime…

"Hey, Takato?"

"Hm?" He asked, slowly taking a sip of his drink.

"What do you think my Ultimate form will be like?" She asked, dreamily. "I bet I'll be the most beautiful woman in the entire Digital World."

Takato, aware of how Tamers evolve to Ultimate and what that would entail on his side of things, promptly choked.

XxXXxX

Takato opened his eyes and glanced at the clock.

2 AM.

It was nice to have a clock that worked for once, he thought, getting up.

It was early. Really early. Pretty much everyone would be asleep for hours yet.

Just as they'd planned.

"BlackTailmon." He asked softly. There was no need to raise his voice; she could hear him from the other side of the room even if he whispered.

He heard a groan.

"I'm up. Is it time already?" She asked.

He nodded in the dark. He couldn't see her, partially because of the lack of light and partially because of the color of her fur, but she could see him just fine.

The eyes of a cat, he mused as a weight, his partner's weight, settled on his shoulders.

"Since you can see in the dark, I need you to be on the lookout. If you see anything suspicious, tell me."

"Of course."

"Then let's go."

They left the room and hotel together. Takato had to walk slowly in the dark hallways of the hotel, and BlackTailmon had been forced to murmur warnings several times to keep him from bumping into anything, but it became easier after they left the building.

Takato was thankful that the fact that the Digital Representation of the Real World hung in the night sky as he made his way through the streets. It wasn't much, but it was enough for him to see by. He wouldn't bet on his ability to make out fine details or distant objects, but hopefully he wouldn't have too.

He didn't even need to glance at the signs around him; he'd memorized the path during the daylight.

Nonetheless, he made his way through the streets carefully, just in case. He didn't want anything to go wrong now. Not when they were this close.

And so, it ended up taking nearly half an hour to get to the Chronic Layer System. They stopped a corner away from it.

Takato didn't look around it, though he wanted to. He didn't trust his eyes to notice anything important in the dark, even with the light of the Real World overhead.

He left that to BlackTailmon.

"Three guards. Guardromon, all of them." She whispered after about twenty seconds of scanning the area.

Takato bit his lip.

"Two less than during the daytime. Is that Knightmon gone?" He said, referring to the Perfect that had also been on guard duty.

"Yes. But he could be inside."

Takato nodded.

The point of coming during the night was that, hopefully, it would reduce the number of Guards. Specifically, the Perfect level guards. He had faith in his partner, but due to the short notice on which he'd been dragged into the Digital World, he didn't have any cards with him.

It wouldn't be an issue if they could go in the normal way, but that was impossible for them.

The guards carefully noted and identified everyone who entered and exited the Chronic Layer System, probably because of recent trouble with X Digimon going through. With the Royal Knights after them, Takato wasn't sure he wanted to be remembered. He'd debated heavily whether or not to do so in the hopes that it would lead Dukemon his way, but…

He needed more information first.

And he knew where to get it, too. A number of X Digimon were said to be camping out in the Urd Terminal. If anyone would know what was going on, they would. They'd need to, if they wanted to survive.

He just had to get there.

"BlackTailmon…is this your first time breaking and entering?" He asked.

She looked at him like he was insane.

"Me, too. Let's go."

XxXXxX

Takato was left feeling a bit put out as they walked through the front door. BlackTailmon had hypnotized the guards and they were now ignoring them.

It was the best way to do it, causing the least amount of fuss. Point of fact, he'd been the one to tell her to do it.

Still, this was kind of anticlimactic.

"If this is really one of the few passages between a World filled with X Digimon and a World X Digimon want to get into, shouldn't it be better guarded?" Takato asked his partner, feeling disappointed.

"I agree." A new voice said.

Knightmon.

"Oh, thank God. I was worried for a second there that the Universe wasn't conspiring against me. It would ruin my persecution complex." Takato said calmly. "BlackTailmon, can you deal with a higher level Digimon for, oh, five minutes?"

"I can try." She said, jumping from his shoulder.

"Groovy." He said, dismissing Knightmon entirely and walking forward.

He didn't even react when a large armored hand interposed itself in his way.

"And where do you think you're going-"

A small black blur slammed into the larger Digimon and, despite his size, picked him up and smashed him through a wall.

Takato waved as he walked past the hole in the wall.

"See you in a few minutes, BlackTailmon. I'm gonna go start up the Chronic Layer System, m'kay?"

"Okay, I'll be there in a little bit." A voice drifted through the hole.

XxXXxX

"So you're after the Chronic Layer System." Knightmon growled.

"Of course." She said dismissively. "Why else would we be here?"

"It'll do you no good." He spat. "Don't think just anyone can activate it. You need-"

"Three passwords and either a Master Key or five different Lesser Keys. We know. Let's just say your Guards were feeling chatty after I hypnotized them." She finished for him with a catlike smile. "We already know where the Lesser Keys are and the Guards outside gave us the passwords. But…"

She flexed her claws.

"According to the guards outside, a Master Key works on all of the Chronic Layer Systems. Anyone who has one can move freely between Worlds as long as he has access to a gate. Is that true?"

Knightmon stiffened. The guards weren't supposed to know that. Their enemies were especially not supposed to know that.

"And what if it is?"

"If it is…" She lifted her eyes to look at his face and her smile widened. "Then I'm betting you have it."

"You'll have to kill me if you want it."

She nodded good-naturedly.

"That was the idea, yes."

BlackTailmon lunged forward and Knightmon reacted quickly.

XxXXxX

Takato finished typing in the last password.

Now there was nothing to do but wait.

He knew where the Lesser Keys were, but didn't bother getting them. He was well aware of BlackTailmon's intentions; she hadn't told him anything, but he could see it in her eyes.

And…

He would believe in her.

He'd believe that even against a higher level Digimon, she'd be victorious.

But…

He clinched his hands into fists, hating not for the first time the fact that he didn't have any cards on him. If he did, he could at least help her fight.

After a minute, he sighed and forced himself to relax.

There was no point brooding over what-if's.

XxXXxX

"Berserk Sword!" Knightmon cried as he brought his sword into a mighty swing, slashing through the area BlackTailmon—

Was no longer in.

He glanced upward and glared at the black cat. She'd jumped up onto the railing and lazily strolling across it, smiling smugly down at him.

"Electric Slash!" He decided to change tactics.

His Berserk Sword surged with electricity and BlackTailmon suddenly felt her hair bristle in warning.

She immediately jumped away, which was the only thing that saved her life, for mere moments later a lightning bolt struck where she had once stood.

She abruptly hissed at Knightmon, no longer smug or amused.

"Neko Punch!" She attacked in retaliation, falling down upon Knightmon like black lightning.

Knightmon quickly reacted, bringing his Sword to block and though it kept the attack from connecting, the floor around his feet cracked at the impact.

That made Knightmon's eyes widen.

But BlackTailmon wasn't done yet. She grabbed the side of the blade with her other hand, being careful not to cut herself. And then, like an expert gymnast, she swung herself past his guard and pushed off into a kick.

"Neko Kick!"

The attack connected with Knightmon's chest and sent him skidding backwards across the floor.

But BlackTailmon had the advantage now and she had every intention of pressing it. She spun in midair, launching another attack.

"Cat Tail!"

Her tail was more like a whip as it took Knightmon across the face and knocked his helmet off, revealing…!

BlackTailmon suddenly faltered.

There was nothing inside the Armor.

"My…" The decapitated helmet said, nearly making BlackTailmon jump out of her skin. "It seems I have the disadvantage due to your superior mobility. But…"

The rest of Knightmon's body began to fall apart into individual pieces. Arms, legs, his shield, his three swords…they all separated and-

BlackTailmon leapt away as the flying blade nearly impaled her.

And each piece levitated in the air and moved as if it had a mind of its own.

"…That alone isn't enough to win against me."

BlackTailmon quickly recovered, putting on a calm face. She had to admit she was a bit shaken, though; this was unexpected.

"Hm…perhaps you're right. It looks like you won't go down easily." She said with a fake sad sigh.

Her face quickly shifted into a smirk, however.

"But you'll still go down."

Two swords impaled the spot she'd been standing on, but she was already in the air. The third sword was already sailing at her, trying to take advantage of her inability to dodge.

Just as she'd expected.

Her tail lashed out, grabbing the railing of the above level. It twisted around it like a snake, pulling her towards it. Her feet made contact with it just in time for her to immediately leap into a dodge, this time jumping down to the lower level.

The two swords that had first attacked her were already withdrawing from the floor; she quickly had to get past them. She jumped, landing on the hilt of one and bounding to the hilt of the second a moment later, landing on the ground past them in a run.

Her first target was the head of Knightmon. Even if his suit was apparently empty, he was still a Digimon. Logic dictated that if he wasn't an Undead type, he would have a Digital Core. All Digimon have two weaknesses; that is, there are two ways to kill them. Cause them enormous physical damage or destroy that Core. The second, as it's usually held within a Digimon's body, is generally only possible by accomplishing the first.

But…

If Knightmon's split his body into all these pieces and these pieces were acting independently, logically, his Digital Core must be controlling them. In addition, it was almost certainly held within his body or at least a part of it, as only a few Digimon had external Cores—and even then, they were generally pretty obvious.

The head wasn't necessarily the correct spot; theoretically, it could be anywhere. However, there are generally two locations that the Core is held; the chest cavity and the head. The Chest is more likely, but it's also more heavily armored, which only supports that it's a safer place to hold the Core. The head is less likely…

But it was as good a place as any to start with. Perhaps she'd luck out and it was in the easier place; then she could destroy it without having to rag on that chest plate.

"Neko Punch!"

Her fist connected hard enough to dent the armor of his forehead, as well as smashing it away from her. However, a second later, she had to back flip over two incoming arms, which put her in a position where she had to dodge to the side in order to avoid the boot that came down like a hammer from above.

She stayed focused on her target through it all, eyes on the prize.

She ran for the head again, jumping to land on the back of one of Knightmon's hands, using it as a spring board to flip over an incoming boot, and turning that flip into a kick, smashing it directly into Knightmon's head again.

"Ugh." The disembodied head grunted.

BlackTailmon ignored it in favor of following up with a Neko Punch-Cat Tail combo. But through it all, she wondered about something she thought was strange.

Punches and kicks are nice and good, but aren't swords preferable if you have them? Then where are Knightmon's?

She didn't even have a chance to look around before Knightmon began his attack.

"Electric Slash!" He said.

BlackTailmon's body was in motion by the time he finished the word 'Electric.'

Her tail lashed out, grabbing Knightmon's head. She pulled it into her former position as she leapt away. She quickly bounded from the back of Knightmon's hand, flipped over his chest armor, and land by his shield which she quickly pulled over herself. She had to resist it as it tried to crush her the moment it realized what she was doing, but it was still a safer place then being out in the open.

From under the safety of the Shield, she saw as Knightmon's own head was destroyed even is the lightning blinded her.

For a moment, everything was dark, but her ears twitched as they heard something.

She rolled out from under the shield as it fell with a thunderous crash, something, or several something's, impacting it was great force.

The other pieces of Knightmon's armor.

Damn. It wasn't in his head, after all.

She blinked quickly as her sight began to return to her.

As it did, she almost wished it hadn't.

The data from Knightmon's head quickly began to swirl in the air, taking shape in seconds. A moment later, it was as good as new and her enemy was staring down at her with the calm blue eyes of a judge.

"A valiant effort." Knightmon granted. "But no less futile. Electric Slash!"

This time BlackTailmon wasn't able to dodge and the attack hit her before she could react. The lightning bolt seared her, the current clawing through her body, setting her nerves on fire. She may have screamed, but she wasn't sure; the crash of thunder seemed to have deafened her.

Shit. This wasn't good.

Her mind raced as she tried to think logically.

Wait…

She'd been hit by an attack. Singular. But…there were three swords placed around the area, weren't there? Every time she'd been attacked previously, it had been by three different bolts of lightning and she'd only been able to dodge by moving before the attack occurred. But this time…

There had been only one.

Why?

BlackTailmon leapt to her feet even though her body didn't seem to want to respond. It hurt, but staying in one place could be fatal. Especially since she was currently handicapped.

She'd lost her sense of hearing, the sense that allowed her to dodge up to this point. She'd heard Knightmon vocalize his attack and had reacted before it had finished. However, without her hearing, she couldn't do that and since Knightmon had no visible mouth, she couldn't read his lips, either.

So she'd just have to rely on her other senses instead.

She focused on a vague sensation she'd felt before. Every time Knightmon had used that attack, the charge in the air changed as a result. In addition, there was always a change in temperature and the movement of the air.

She sniffed the air slightly. Yes, there was a change in that as well; the smell of ozone.

She could tell when one of the attacks was coming this way; she was sure of it.

But…

Could she dodge? Could she dodge three different attacks from three different directions?

She couldn't be sure of it.

She needed to, at the very least, narrow down the number of attacks.

Where are they coming from?

Her fur lifted suddenly. Yes, there was an attack coming from the-

Right? Left?

No, both!

She dove forward, turned it into a roll, and up ended back on her feet in a dead sprint.

That time there had only been two attacks. Why not three? They'd come from the left and right at angles, so-

There and there! She noted their location and began to form a hypothesis.

For an attack that moves in a straight line, within the confines of a room with various obstacles and object, there are only a certain number of angles from which one can hit a target from any one position.

BlackTailmon did some quick calculations.

Those two blades, from their current position, shouldn't be able to reach her if she moved right…there!

She rolled for cover beside a staircase.

Those two blades couldn't reach her for the moment; they'd need to move and readjust their aim which should take a few seconds. She took advantage of her time to find the third blade.

There – the blades were set in a triangular pattern; theoretically, at least one should be able to hit her where ever she was in this room.

But that doesn't take into account the numerous pieces of armor floating in the air, now does it?

Could Knightmon keep track of all those pieces, the firing angles of the swords, and where they overlapped?

More importantly…

Could she?

BlackTailmon tilted her head to the side, cracking it.

Only one way to find out.

She leapt back into the fray. She landed with Knightmon's chest plate between her and the blade she knew the location of. She glanced over her shoulder to determine the location of the other two, noting them. She grabbed the chest plate, threw it towards her desired location, and followed after it. The Chest plate would defend against two swords in this position, her position on the wall would protect from the third. Their location would change in seconds, but she wasn't immediately struck down, so it seemed to work.

Knightmon's fists pounded the armor while the chest plate tried to crush her. Her arms hurt from the strain.

She ignored it.

Now that she had a moment to think, she could address her main problem.

While the swords would have been immediately lethal if she hadn't dealt with them, this problem was no less dangerous; it would merely take slightly longer to kill her.

Knightmon's head had reformed. What did that mean?

She quickly went through the possible options.

Knightmon was invincible and she was dead. This option sucked. Next.

Knightmon can not only separate and reform his pieces of armor; he can do the same to pieces of data. This still sucked. But if so…

Was there a restriction on it?

What if she was right? She'd thought that the head was a bust because that was not where his Digital Core was held. What if she had been correct in that assumption?

She'd thought that his ability to separate and manipulate the pieces of his armor was controlled by his Core. Assuming that is true and assuming his ability to recombine his own data was a part of the same ability then it stood to reason that his data manipulation ability was also controlled by his Digital Core.

If so, then the only way to defeat Knightmon is by finding and destroying his Digital Core.

She'd originally deduced that the most likely location of that Core would be inside-

The Chest piece she was currently holding.

A catlike grin stretched over her face.

If she was correct, then the easiest way to prove it would be to put herself in the line of fire and see what happened.

There were several glaring problems with that, however. Namely what would happen if she was wrong…

If she was wrong, Knightmon could simply destroy his chest piece to attack her. The result would only benefit him; BlackTailmon would almost certainly be injured by such an attack. In fact, the probability of her deletion was fairly high.

Knightmon, on the other hand, had nothing to fear. Even if he obliterated it completely, it wouldn't affect him personally; he could simply put it back together from the spare data.

BlackTailmon had to swallow at that.

But if she was right…!

If she was right, this move could win her the fight. All the information she currently had at her disposal lead her to believe that she was correct; if it wasn't in the head, then it had to be here!

But what if she was wrong? Should she bet her life on it?

She could try to find another way; if she tried to destroy the armor herself…!

No. If she did that and was wrong, the result would be the same. If she did that and was right, then Knightmon might take drastic measures. She couldn't rule out that he might be willing to take her down with him.

Before she could come up with anything else, first she had to confirm whether or not she was correct. Both of the ways she had to do that could end in her death if she was wrong, but if she didn't do something, then…

Damned if you do…

Damned if you don't…

In that case, she might as well just do it and earn it, right?

So she took a deep breath and jumped back into the fray.

She wasn't stupid, though; she didn't intend to bet everything on this one chance. She put herself in a position where she was protected from one of the swords by virtue of her position. That still left the threat of two more, but…

If she was right, then it wouldn't be an issue. If she was wrong, then she was, hopefully, somewhat less screwed then she would be otherwise. Maybe the Armor would take most of the blow?

Unlikely, since the weapon being used was electricity, but it shouldn't be as bad as taking the blow head on, at least.

For a moment, everything was quiet. But then, her hearing was still shot, so who knew what that meant.

But even so, for a moment, she let herself dare to hope.

Was she right? Maybe she was! Maybe she could-

A blast of electricity deleted the armor in an instant. The current didn't even have time to flow through it and shock BlackTailmon.

She didn't even have time to register the fact that she should be surprised before the rest of the attack plowed into her.

All she could think about was one thing.

She was wrong.

Damn it, she was wrong.

But then…where?

Where was his Digital Core?

Or was he really-

No. She refused to accept that her opponent was invincible.

There had to be a way to defeat him. She just had to find it.

But even if she did…

What could she do now?

And then a sliver of hope found its way to her in the form of a voice, but with it came a feeling of pain and fear that struck her to the bone.

"The Shield!" A familiar voice shouted, barely audible to her slowly recovering ears. "It's in his shield!"

That voice…

She knew it, though she tried to convince herself it couldn't be.

Please don't let him be stupid enough to have come back.

She forced herself to open her eyes and regretted it.

Her partner had come back for her.

You idiot, she thought.

"Why didn't you escape?" She asked weakly. If she was a little stronger she would have added 'you dumbass.' "If you realized I was losing…you should have run."

Her Tamer hastened down the stairs to her side. Knightmon didn't stop him.

BlackTailmon wondered if it was because he was surprised by the human's idiocy, respectful of his courage, or if he simply found it more convenient to kill them if they were both in the same place.

"I couldn't. Not without you." He said. "If you can't run, then I can't either."

She spat out a bit of blood that exploded into data before it hit the ground.

"I couldn't run even if I wanted to." She said. "All you've done is ensured that both of us die."

"If that's how it has to be." He replied. "I can't do anything myself, but even so, I believe in you. Even if I'm too weak to do anything else, I believe in you."

"I lost." She hissed, angry at him, but not as angry as she was at herself.

"Even so, I still believe. I had a choice. I could have left by myself or I could have come back here for you. And I'm here. And I haven't given up."

"I have." She stated. "So do me a favor and run while you still can."

Takato just laughed. Even though she put all the venom she could muster into those words, he brushed them off as if they were nothing.

"Even now, when it looks like it's over," He began, smiling down at her without a hint of pain or sadness. "You are worried only about me. You didn't ask me to save you, even though you knew you'd die if someone didn't."

She tried to look away, but it hurt too much to move so she settled for glaring at him instead.

"If I asked an idiot like you for help, you'd probably come even if there was nothing you could do, so…more than anything, I absolutely do not want your help."

Takato simply laughed at that.

"Are you finished saying your goodbyes?" Knightmon asked. BlackTailmon noticed that his swords were in position to catch them in the crossfire. If it was just her, maybe she could dodge, but Takato's body was too large and slow.

Oh, who was she kidding? She couldn't dodge in this state, even if she wanted too.

"Wait." Takato spoke up. "I heard that several of the Royal Knights were looking for us. A Human and a Plotmon, right?"

Knightmon hesitated.

"And so what." He said, recovering. "Your partner isn't a Plotmon."

"Not anymore, she's not. But she was before she evolved."

Knightmon would have frowned if he had a mouth.

"I think you're just trying to save your hides."

"True." Takato agreed. "But that doesn't mean I'm lying."

Knightmon was silent for a moment.

"Lord Dukemon asked around before." He then said and Takato's heart began to clinch at his words. "And…he was only interested in the human. Whether you are or aren't the one he's after…there's still no reason to leave the BlackTailmon alive. Get out of the way and I'll spare you for now, human."

Takato sighed, half expecting that.

"Sorry; no can do. I'm not moving."

Knightmon lapsed back into silence again before the pieces of his armor made a strange movement.

If he wasn't in pieces, it might have been a shrug.

"Then my duty is clear. I can only hope he won't be too upset. Electric Slash!"

Takato threw himself over BlackTailmon. The small Digimon would have pointed out how stupid that was if she hadn't had the air crushed out of her lungs. Against three Perfect level attacks, it just meant that both of them would die.

Until he pushed her away at the last second, sending her out of the line of fire.

Her eyes widened and she had just enough time to think 'Takato, you fucking idiot' before the impact with the floor drove it away. He'd done nothing but buy her a few seconds; she couldn't move so Knightmon could just kill her next. He had to know this, so why…why…why did he always have to be such an idiot!?

Takato's Digivice glowed as the light from the lightning found itself swallowed by a darkness that was absolute.

"Really. Why do you have to cause so much trouble for me?" BlackTailmon said, visible for a moment against the black background before she too was swallowed by it.

"BlackTailmon, shinka!"

A sudden whirlwind of bats protected Takato from harm. The lightning bolts destroyed every bat they came into contact with, but there were just so many that they dissipated before they got through.

Takato suddenly felt himself being picked up and started in surprise when he saw who was doing it.

She was mostly covered in a black body suit, the many stitches on it easily visible. The suit was cut off mid-thigh on her left leg, revealing a wide expanse of pale flesh stretching all the way down to her boot which had a red, bat-like shape imprinted on it. Her right leg was completely covered, but had two mouth-like shapes on it; one on her shoe with the mouth along the edge and the other on her knee. Red eyes glared out from above both. The cloth on her left arm was torn as well, but it hung in the air, revealing another face-like shape, this one with a clawed appendage attached to it. It was pierced by a chain, one which wrapped around her waist, stretched to her right arm, wrapped around it a number of times, and then fell to wrap her right leg as well. Her left arm was much larger than her normal looking right one, ending with an enormous hand with blood-red claws. He tattered, cape-like wings flared behind her, bearing her aloft impossibly and a black, helmet-like cloth covered most her face, leaving only her red eyes and her mouth to be seen. Her long, beautiful silver hair fell below her waist, flaring around her as rose through the air in a fashion that somehow manage to convey a noble air.

"LadyDevimon." She finished.

Takato's first thought was 'Wow, she evolved…' His second thought was somewhat more embarrassing: '…and now she's really hot.'

He quickly shook away both his shock and embarrassment, though a blush lingered on his face.

"Thanks for the save, LadyDevimon." He said. "If you hadn't, I'd be dead."

She slapped him then, thankfully with her right hand. Her left hand probably would have taken off his head. Actually, her right hand probably would have, too, if she hadn't held back.

He blinked once, twice, his head having been snapped to the side. Then he looked at her for a minute out of the corner of his eye, not moving his head. He looked silently at her face and saw the emotions written there.

He turned his head towards her fully, then. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers; a feat he was only capable of since she was carrying him bridal style.

"I'm sorry for making you worry." He said.

"You should be! Y-you…! I thought you were going to die again, damn it!"

He nodded, not opening his eyes.

"Me, too." He admitted honestly. "I didn't really think he'd listen to me, but I had to try, just in case I could save you."

"T-then why did you-"

"You said it before, didn't you? That if you asked an idiot like me for help, I'd come even if there was nothing I could do, right? And that's why you didn't want my help. But…because of that, I can't leave you, no matter what. I can't protect you…I can't do anything. I don't have any cards and I can't Matrix Evolve; I can't help you at all. I'm useless to you. But even so, you continue to believe that I will come to save you, no matter what. And because of that, there's another thing I can't do. At the very least, I can't let you down."

She couldn't look at him. So she lifted him further into the air, the storm of bats still around her. In fact, it seemed to be following her, keeping a constant distance. Outside it, Knightmon could be heard attacking; he'd break through eventually.

But she didn't care about that.

"You are…yeah, without a doubt, you are an idiot. But…" She held him a bit tighter then. "I guess I can look passed that, since we're partners."

He chuckled quietly, only opening his eyes when he felt her land.

"Leave." She said, putting a finger on his mouth before he could protest. "It was stupid of you, but…I'm glad you came for me. Even so…leave. I…can handle this now. I'll be fine. Just…wait patiently for me by the Layer System; I'll be along shortly. I just have some unfinished business to deal with."

He lifted a hand to touch her right hand whose finger was on his lips. He held it silently for just a moment before nodding, stepping away. The Storm around them, which was getting thinner and thinner, shifted, forming a tunnel to the door.

LadyDevimon watched him go without a word before narrowing her eyes and glancing behind her.

It was time.

"Electric Slash!"

The three swords had moved so that they could focus on a single point in the wall and their combine power blew a large hole in it, revealing-

Nothing?

"Hmph." A voice from the opposite side of the room said, directly behind the three blades. "Not bad, but your aim is lousy. What were you shooting at?"

Knightmon's disembodied head, the only part of his body with eyes, swung around in midair to see LadyDevimon leaning calmly against the wall. He quickly began to turn his swords around to attack.

"Berserk-"

"Darkness Spear." She said, beating him to it. Her left arm quickly elongated into a spear which she immediately swung.

The three blades shattered before Knightmon's wide eyes.

"Enough." She said. "Your Core is in your shield; I know that now. Give me the Master Key right now or I'll destroy you and take it."

Knightmon quickly recovered, narrowing his eyes.

"Do you think it will be that simple?" He asked. The data of his swords was already putting itself back together, emphasizing his point. "Do you think I'll just let you do as you please?"

The pieces of his armor began to move quickly, turning into a metal whirlwind.

If he was trying to hide from her, it wasn't working. She could follow them with her eyes.

But the shield…

It was being guarded; there were always something between it and her.

Ah. So that was his plan. Turn the shield, the hardest part of his body, into a quickly-moving, protected object. Well, it made sense; it was harder to hit that way and if you did hit it, you'd have to get passed the 'guards' and still be able to hurt the shield. And the 'guards' would quickly regenerate if they were destroyed.

Yes, it made sense.

But that made it no less futile.

"LEVEL: 666." She uttered, a green circle appearing beneath her, drawing itself into the ground. "SYSTEM: ASMODEUS. CODE: LUST."

The symbol was composed by two concentric circles and within the space between them, the words she had spoken were repeated twice. At the bottom of the inner circle, there were other words written: PURGATORY LEVEL: 7. Also within the inner circle was a very special symbol.

Her symbol.

The Crest of Lust.

It drew itself after the circles and words were complete. It started with four separate circles; very small compared to the larger circles but in a row. Then, a short vertical line extended downwards from each circle before all the lines were connected by a longer, horizontal line when they were all of the same length. Finally, the third line from the left continued to extend, though only a small bit. It then formed a fifth circle at the end of its length.

And then, to complete her crest, her Heavenly Body was designated. The Moon, represented by a Crescent Moon above her symbol, drew itself in green light, completing her Crest.

It took mere moments to complete her circle, but she wasn't done yet.

Credit had to be given where credit was due.

"My color is Green, my sin is Lust, the Heavenly Body that watches over me is the Moon, and my spirit is Phul, who rules the waters and the moon; I am Lilithmon of the Seven Great Demon Lords." She said and she knew it was true. She didn't know why she was saying it; she didn't even know what she was saying! But she knew it was true.

Knightmon's eyes widened but he didn't even have a chance to speak before LadyDevimon began her attack.

She calculated quickly; his total mass, the mass of each piece, the resistance of the air, the distance, energy needed, direction, and everything else besides.

The key aspect of Lust was 'Attraction,' in a metaphysical sense; desire, craving, want, and much more.

And that was her power, in a literal sense.

Attraction.

She made a gesture, clinching her hand into a fist, and-

Kinghtmon's pieces were crushed together. From all around the room, they were attracted to a single point of her choosing; the exact middle of the room. There was an enormous wave of sound, the impact of metal on metal washing through the room.

She flexed her fingers again, redoing her calculations; it was troublesome, but necessary to use this ability. Now that they were all in one place, it was easier, though.

She increased the force on him to the point that his armor began to dent.

"Last chance." She said. "Give me the Master Key or die."

Knightmon suddenly screamed in rage – or maybe he was just too preoccupied with escaping to form coherent sentences, she wasn't sure.

All the pieces of armor, minus his shield, suddenly exploded into data, confusing her; she hadn't done that. And even if she had, she wouldn't have left behind the shield. If anything, she would have focused on the shield; it was the only piece that really mattered.

But it all made sense a moment later.

The data gather in an instant, recombining into Knightmon's complete form. He must have realized his separated from wouldn't work in the current situation, but why-

Knightmon took a step forward, resisting the pull of the Crest of Lust.

LadyDevimon frowned, wondering if she should just abandon this tactic; in her current state, it was taking a great deal of her processing capacity. She had a great deal more, but if she used any of it, it would likely affect her combat ability.

Wait…actually, she had several auxiliary functions that were constantly active, but weren't useful in battle.

Hm…but was there any point? Rather than abandoning or increasing this method, she could simply attack in addition to it. It didn't matter if Knightmon still had some movement capability; if he was limited to small steps, he was no threat. Even at his normal speed, he was slower than her. That was a better plan.

But in that case…Increasing the power could only help if it would not adversely affect her combat potential.

And more than that…this ability…she needed to know exactly what she could do with it.

She turned off most of the areas that controlled her language ability. Just the part that allowed her to speak properly in several languages; she left her ability to understand those languages unchanged. Who knows? Knightmon might actually say something important. She also set aside a small amount of processing capability to speak her attack names; she might be able to do them silently, but now wasn't the time to experiment with that, too.

Knightmon tried to take another step, but it didn't accomplish anything. As he strode forward a force pulled him back, reducing the distance covered to zero.

"W-what?" He said, straining against the force.

LadyDevimon 'laughed,' if it could be called that. Her language ability controlled more than her verbal abilities; her ability to vocally communicate information in general was controlled by it, including her ability to laugh. Instead of a recognizable laugh, what came out was a series of random sounds.

But her smile was controlled by her movement data and wasn't affected in the slightest.

"Poison." She said, speaking one of the few words she was still capable of forming.

She couldn't ask Knightmon to surrender again without her ability to speak, but…

She had no intention of doing so, anyway.

The red mist expanded quickly from her hand, moving towards Knightmon at surprising speed. Knightmon, his movements still bound, could do nothing but take the attack-

Which…didn't hurt at all?

Instead, it seemed to dye the area it touched, the left side of his chest plate, red. This color quickly began to spread, growing to cover his entire armor like off-color verdigris.

But even when it had covered him completely and stained his body red, it didn't hurt. He was left looking like he'd bathed in blood and it had started to dry, but…it didn't hurt.

Then…what was the point of this technique?

LadyDevimon's smile simply widened and she lifted up on hand. She held up three fingers.

The first fell. In their turn, the second and third followed.

And Knightmon…

Started to scream.

Now it hurt. It hurt in a way he wasn't sure how to describe. It was like his body was tearing itself apart from the inside. Like he'd been infected by a virus set in fast-forward…

Oh, no.

LadyDevimon's strange 'laugh' bubbled up again, and Knightmon, realizing his only real chance of survive was defeating her before this 'Poison' killed him, tried to attack. He fired his Electric Slash, but-

"Darkness Wave!" LadyDevimon countered.

She released countless bat-like creatures from her hand. As an attack, while the individual creatures were weak, there were just so many of them.

But as a defense…

While the creatures were weak, they were still solid. In order to hit LadyDevimon, Knightmon would effectively have to fire through a cloud of thousands of fairly large creatures in the hopes of missing them all and hitting her; for an attack the moved in, more or less, a straight line, that was impossible. The other possibility was to have an attack strong enough to waste its energy on countless creatures and still make it through the storm and hurt LadyDevimon.

Knightmon couldn't do either.

The bats didn't attack, though; they simply shrouded their mistress from view. Why attack? After all, Knightmon's body was killing itself; there was no real need to put themselves in actual physical danger, right?

Knightmon's body shook at the pain, but he wasn't dead yet.

When he reconstructed his armor, he did it by returning their data to a pre-established template. If he reduced himself to data again and returned himself to the state he'd been in prior to the infection of the virus, maybe he could buy himself some time. He couldn't completely cure himself without doing the same to his shield, meaning he couldn't protect his Digital Core, but if he could get even a few more minutes-

But it would leave his shield open for an attack.

Knightmon shook himself.

So what? At this rate, he and his shield were going to be deleted anyway; sure, it was risky, but no more so than doing nothing.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

That thought firmly in mind, he made a backup plan, just in case.

And then his body started to break apart.

As expected, LadyDevimon took this chance to tear through the cloud of bats, her arm already lengthening into a spear.

Knightmon was prepared for that obvious move, though.

It was a simple plan, but if it worked, it worked, right?

His swords that broke into data had been tightly controlled by his will. He had kept them under his power as he had his pieces of armor before them and had organized them carefully.

The data of his swords were organized into the shape of his swords, but still kept as data particles. Even so, a simple effort of will would be enough-

His swords came back into existence.

And they were all aimed at LadyDevimon.

As a surprise attack, it was perfect. It would take her more time to change direction then it would take him to attack, and that was all that mattered.

Though he had no mouth to speak with, electricity surged through his blades. A trio of lightning bolts tore through the air and-

LadyDevimon suddenly accelerated greatly.

All three attacks missed her entirely.

But how? He had time to wonder as she flew through the cloud of data that would never again merge to become Knightmon.

He understood mere moments before LadyDevimon's spear penetrated his Digital Core.

That ability of hers…

Attraction.

When he'd exploded into data, leaving only his shield behind, she must have released it. It didn't matter at that point if he could or couldn't move; his weak point was wide open!

And then she'd used it on herself to increase her own speed.

Damn it.

The Darkness Spear slide through the Crest of Hope imprinted upon his shield as if it were water.

Knightmon knew what that meant. Rather, that could only mean one thing.

I lose, he thought.

And then he thought no more.

XxXXxX

LadyDevimon extended her left hand and Knightmon's loose data gathered above it.

She slowly began to absorb it. She wasn't one of the Digimon that was able to load data naturally, though, so she wasn't used to it. She'd have to work on that.

A part of her understood that it was only because of her Crest that this was even possible, but she still didn't understand everything.

What did having the Crest of Lust mean? Why did she have it in the first place? Where were these strange thoughts and memories coming from?

She didn't know.

But…

There would be time to worry about that later.

She continued to slowly absorb the data until only a small part of it was left. This was the potion of Knightmon's data that her senses told her was not 'natural.'

The Master Key.

Truthfully, she had kind of hoped Knightmon would simply give it to her; if he had, this wouldn't be necessary.

But there was no use regretting something she couldn't do anything about.

The data that had once been the Master Key was in so many pieces, but there were parts around the edges that signified where the pieces connected, like a jigsaw puzzle. A really annoying jigsaw puzzle.

She began to piece it together; slowly at first but quickly gaining speed. It became easier the more she completed as the loose data was attracted by the solidified portion and began to nearly put itself back together.

She couldn't just load it like she did Knightmon's data; it wouldn't have accomplished anything. Loading broken data is very useful in its own way, but the information retrieved from it is equally broken. While you can gather power from loose data, you can't really absorb things like memories, as the pieces of data that signify one moment are unconnected to the ones signifying the next. The same goes with the data that creates their techniques; it's useless if you break it into a million pieces.

Just random zeroes and ones.

But if you put ones and zeroes together properly…

The last piece of data merged with the rest, creating a small blue sphere with a barcode ring floating around it.

LadyDevimon laughed. Or tried too; it still came out as a series of garbled sounds.

She frowned at that and quickly restarted her communication system as she levitated through the air.

Takato was waiting.

XxXXxX

"Ah, there you are." Takato tried to say casually. LadyDevimon had been hanging around him for quite a while in her previous forms, though, so she saw the relief hidden within those words.

She smiled at him, pausing a moment to double check the data controlling her voice.

Perfect.

"Sorry for making you wait." She apologized.

"Ah…no problem." Takato said, though he seemed to be avoiding looking at her.

She made a note to ask about that later, but they'd wasted enough time.

"Is this the Chronic Layer System?"

"Yeah." He said. "It's all set up; it just needs a key, now."

He pointed towards the key scanner.

"Got it." She said, lifting the master key. She held it out to the scanner, which quickly read the barcode ring. A green light flashed after it finished scanning and the machine began to activate.

All in all, it was pretty anticlimactic. A 'window' appeared in midair that allowed them to see a forest on the other side and that was it.

The Tamer and Digimon looked at each other and shrugged before LadyDevimon grabbed Takato.

Takato briefly wondered if he should say something when LadyDevimon picked him up bridal style and rested his head on her breast. Point of fact, he was going to say something.

And then LadyDevimon flew through the gate at full speed.

When he got to the other side, he realized that he had bigger things to worry about.

Takato mentally kicked himself.

Of course! What was he thinking!

If there had been guards on this side, then…

It stood to reason that there would be guards on the other side, right?

XxXXxX