"Sticky Net!"

Wormmon was far from the strongest of the Digimon Kaiser's many digimon, and unlike his opponents' partners, he couldn't warp evolve, although he hoped the Dark Tower they had surreptitiously erected the night before would be sufficient to neutralize that particular advantage. But he just might have been the bravest of his soldiers, and no one, with or without an Evil Ring, would let themselves be upstaged by a child-level bug digimon.

The victim of Wormmon's net was a Guardromon, representing Factorial Town's forces; he guarded the northern sentry post (nearly as tall as their Dark Tower, but with a strange metal construction and a far squarer shape) beside one of Hikari's Numemon and a Unimon from Infinity Mountain. The Guardromon tried to free itself from the netting, but its arms were too short and the net had sealed shut the firing mechanism for its destruction grenade. The Numemon pressed a button which lit up the tower and sounded a whirring alarm back at the base camp, then slithered out the window and down the tower's back wall. The Unimon, for its part, flew back towards the army's camp, shouting loudly and firing Holy Shots to alert anyone who hadn't heard the alarm.

"We're under attack!"

"Shouldn't we shoot it down?" one Airdramon asked, but the Kaiser stretched out a blocking hand. "If I wanted a sneak attack, I wouldn't have started this by attacking their guard post. Let them come – we have everything we need to crush them!"

"So he's attacking from the north. Let's teach this digimon slaver a lesson!" an angry Takeru shouted as warning bells rang through the camp, rising to his feet as Patamon and Tentomon flew behind him, with Koushirou, Hikari, Tailmon, and Agumon following on foot.

"Hold on, it could be a trap!" Taichi said. "Don't you think it's a little strange he's only attacking from one direction, and let that Unimon escape to warn us? The alarm alone would've been enough to tell us, but he surely couldn't hear it from the guard tower."

"You're too cautious, oniichan. We outnumber him, he's attacking our base, we even have stronger digimon..." Hikari said.

"I must admit, that Unimon ploy was a clever gambit, Taichi-san. But I think Takeru-kun and Hikari-san are right about this; you do have a history of excessive caution, and we shouldn't need any help to win this fight with WarGreymon and three Perfect-level digimon on our side."

"Should I come too?" a familiar voice asked, from within one of the digital world's strange and hollow trees.

"No, we'll keep you in reserve," Taichi answered, and Hikari, this time, echoed her agreement. "If something does go wrong, we're gonna need a trump card."

Four Chosen Children, an army of digimon beside them, gathered at the edge of their makeshift army base to confront a fleet of Airdramon and a marching Tyranomon horde, with a few child digimon mixed in. Meramon and Kentarumon guarded his army's flanks, wearing evil rings around their necks.

"I'm not gonna like fighting these guys, but it's our only way to free them. Agumon!" Taichi shouted.

"Me neither, but we can't free them any other way! Agumon, warp shinka, Agumon!" His partner digimon sounded proud as he turned endlessly, but the evolution didn't come.

"Maybe you really are afraid, Taichi-san," Koushirou noted; the words stung more than he meant them to.

"Or maybe the problem is with Agumon; it's happened to him before, in the Misty Trees," Hikari added.

"Well, I know you haven't lost your light, Hikari! Tailmon, chou shinka..." The white cat whirled around and around until she fell over from dizziness, but grew neither wings nor long, human legs to pick herself back up. "Tailmon, I guess..."

"Patamon, shinka, Patamon." Takeru's partner seemed to expect the result, but still sounded disappointed.

"I'm pretty sure he's found a way to disrupt evolution," Koushirou said. "And if so, I don't know if we have enough digimon to win this fight."

"I still feel like I should try anyway just to confirm this, Koushirou-han. Tentomon, shinka, Tentomon." The attempt was driven by the quest to acquire knowledge, but the powers of all their crests had been somehow sealed away.

"Is this the best you've got, so-called 'Chosen Children'? I didn't think it'd be so easy! The digital world will be mine now, mwahahaha!"

As the Tyranomon stampeded, Meramon and Kentarumon directing them, while the Airdramon flapped their spiraling wings, the Digimon Kaiser flung his rings and urged his army ever onward. Chaos spread through the ranks as loyal bodyguards became enemies, and the Chosen Children seemed helpless before the onslaught – until, from seemingly within a tree, an ethereal voice shouted "Knuckle Fire!"

The barrage of fireballs burnt a few rings in midair, but more importantly freed numerous digimon (mostly Airdramon; the Tyranomon, with wider bodies and rings lower to the ground, were a tougher target, Kentarumon was just too fast, and Meramon too fiery) from Ken's own army. Some of the fireballs were too strong and knocked digimon out of the fight entirely – but at least it counted as taking out his foes. Others burnt up Evil Rings, but left their unhappy victims more disoriented than angry; a few digimon even continued fighting for Ken once freed.

But many more fought for the Chosen Children, and it only took a few liberated digimon to spread chaos through the Digimon Kaiser's own ranks – especially after a lucky fireball hit the Kaiser's own mount, who attempted a "Tail Whip!" over his own back to cleave his master in two.

"Grab onto me, Ken-chan! Sticky Net!" In a better time, Ken would have reprimanded his guide digimon for calling himself anything but the Digimon Kaiser; in his current situation, he clung to Wormmon for dear life as it swung him around a volley of poop and grenades to a still loyal Airdramon, which he commanded to rise higher and higher into the sky.

"There! They must've installed a cannon on that tree or something – I can't see where, but everyone, attack!"

"So you're saying Hikari-chan needs my help, Miyako-chan?" Mimi asked.

Strictly speaking, Hikari had never actually said "help", let alone "need"; she was an empress, and empresses did not lower themselves to using such terms, Miyako supposed, especially not in diplomatic correspondence. What she had said was to ask Mimi for an alliance, and to give up whatever she had to in order to get Mimi to agree to one. And she had also warned her that their relationship was quite poor, and that Miyako should be discreet about her affiliation with Hikari and careful in how she introduced herself, or she might end up in the Geckomon's dungeon.

And one does not, of course, ask in such a way if not in dire need of help.

"Yeah," Miyako answered. She could be civil and polite when she had to be, but dancing around the topic just wasn't her style. Maybe that's why she had been given the digimental of Purity; it seemed a strange name, but there were no illusions with her, purely her true, straightforward self.

"And she won't make the Geckomon share this place with Numemon or anything? And the territories I added to Gecko Domain, we can keep those, right? We'll need them for self-sufficiency after the digital world got all shaken up again."

"I'm here to ask your subjects for help, not to punish them. You saw what they did to Tonosama Geckomon with those rings and all, right?"

"Well, if Hikari-chan's willing to admit I was right… I guess I can help her. I mean, Ken attacked me as well, and it was completely unprovoked!" an indignant Mimi answered – if perhaps one whose indignation had finally reached the right target. "Thanks for the help, by the way!"

"Bingo! Time to teach that Kaiser kid a lesson!"

Mimi rang the bell to summon her attendants, with orders to gather the rest of the castle's population in a room she had once used to sing karaoke. "Geckomon, Otamamon, TonosamaGeckomon, prepare for the greatest battle of my reign. It's time we take revenge on the guy who tried to seize this castle with those creepy magic rings – and save the digital world to boot!"

Even after the Digital World was reconfigured, Gecko Castle was in an excellent defensive position – which was to say, separated by a long, narrow, and rocky trail from any neighboring settlements. At least they were marching downhill, but amphibians weren't exactly the fastest digimon, and neither Lilymon nor Shurimon was large enough to carry a whole army.

Although both Gecko Castle and the battlefield were on File Island, it took over a day of marching before Shurimon, rising high into the air on his shuriken legs, sighted Airdramon and fireballs in the distance. They had intended to rendezvous and meet with their new allies, but by the time they arrived, only a desperately jumping Fladramon seemed to be still fighting back.

"Miyako-san, Mimi-dono, I believe I've sighted our enemy. Kusanagi!"

"Kobushi Tone!"

"Crush Symphony!"

"Lullaby Bubble!"

As Ken tried to finally hit the quickly moving Fladramon and finish off the other remnants of Hikari's new alliance, as Tailmon, Guardromon, Numemon, and a menagerie of Child digimon (Patamon, Agumon, and Tentomon, mysteriously unable to evolve, among them) formed a desperate circle to protect the Chosen Children, a barrage of shurikens and noise attacks smashed from the forest behind him into his unsuspecting army.

"I'm glad you could make it, Mimi-chan!" Taichi shouted, and the chosen children waved at her and Miyako from a distance, as best they could see them amidst the smoke, fire, and cyclones of the battlefield.

"Seems like you're having trouble, but don't worry; Mimi-sama is on the scene. Lilymon!"

"Flow' can..." Lilymon began, flying closer to the Airdramon Ken had mounted, looking for that perfect shot – and then, suddenly, devolving and falling out of the sky. "Poison Ivy!" she yelled, her flower hands turned to mere vines; she wasn't nearly close enough to reach her target, but at least she grabbed hold of some trees and broke her fall.

"We haven't been able to evolve either. I don't know what's going on, but it's clearly ruining our chances of victory," a despondent Koushirou noted.

"Sorry about making you do all the fighting, guys," Mimi said to the comrades she had arrived with, then faced the ones with whom she had once saved the digital world. "We've just gotta hope the new kids and our digimon allies are up to the task."

Ishida Yamato had expected to travel back to File Island with only MetalGarurumon beside him, and most of the local digimon didn't even leave their respective caves to hear him say goodbye. Yet as he bid farewell to the digimon he had lived near, if never really with, ever since he left the wars of the Chosen Children behind, one insisted on joining him.

"So this Digimon Kaiser guy is controlling digimon with evil rings? Those sound like black gears, and I still owe you one from back when File Island broke up. I'm not gonna let any Devimon wannabe take over the digital world!"

Yamato still struggled to tell the Mojyamon apart behind their heavily furred faces, but he still remembered that fight beside Garurumon and Yukidarumon so many years ago. Besides, everyone else was bringing a digimon army, so it'd be nice to at least show up with at least an ally who wasn't his partner. "Well, if you want to come with me, get on."

If one wants to explore the digital world at a leisurely pace, and is not entirely sure where they are going, a boat (swan-shaped or otherwise) is a fine means of transportation. The same is true if one is bringing large numbers of digimon that can't swim.

If, however, one knows their destination, there's no beating a large, Ultimate-level digimon capable of flight – in this case, a MetalGarurumon. Yamato took weeks to find the Isles of Solitude, but would spend only hours returning to File Island.

Returning, in this case, to another battle for the fate of the digital world. And perhaps, he surmised, returning far too quickly, for no sooner did he arrive than did MetalGarurumon suddenly devolve into Gabumon.

"Did I tire you out? I'm sorry I pushed you like that, Gabumon, but you really should've said something?!" a worried Yamato half-pleaded, half-scolded – he had come all this way, seemingly only to watch as the Digimon Kaiser's forces overwhelmed those of the at last reunited Chosen Children.

"No, I feel normal, Yamato. I just… somehow can't evolve." Gabumon himself seemed on the verge of tears, and Yamato dropped to his knees to give his partner a hug.

"Well, I'm not about to let your journey be a total waste. Icicle Rod!" Mojyamon hurled an icicle high into the air, piercing an Airdramon's evil ring – but flying with too much force, straight through said Airdramon's tail, and sending it plummeting out of the sky, in no position to join them.

"Welcome back, Yamato! Glad to have some help!" Taichi shouted from across the battlefield.

"I missed you, nii-san!" Takeru added.

"Don't get too happy, guys. Gabumon can't evolve, and Mojyamon's my only other follower," Yamato said, equally apologetic and disappointed; they needed his help, but this was all he could provide. At least TonosamaGeckomon, Shurimon, and Fladramon were still putting up a fight.

"I'm not giving up. Petit Fire!" Gabumon shouted, taking out a Gotsumon's ring. "Petit Fire!" he added, aiming for a Tyranomon this time, but landing a meaningless hit on the dinosaur digimon's bulky torso instead. "C'mon, guys – let's fight our way to the other Chosen Children!"

Ichijouji Ken had attacked Hikari, Takeru, and Koushirou's alliance expecting no one outside his army to join forces with him. After all, why would they? Anyone could see that he was the bigger threat, and that victory here would make him all but ruler of the digital world.

So he was as surprised as anyone when a few Hangyomon showed up off the coast of their battlefield and fired a few harpoons into the gooey bodies of the Numemon surrounding Hikari. A few Hangyomon – Hangyomon alone, with nary a human in sight.

"NPCs," Ken thought aloud. "I didn't think I'd be the one to get this kind of boost, but my opponent must've done something to screw up their relations with them," he muttered, then pointed to the two speedy armor digimon that weaved through the sky, launching fire rockets and shurikens at his army's Evil Rings. "Thanks for the help, Hangyomon! These guys are the real threat; think you can hit them for me?"

"Oxygen Homing!" A torpedo of air sniped one of the Hangyomon from below, launching it far from the battlefield.

"Hammer Boomerang!" Zudomon, carrying Jou on his shell, was still far enough from the fight to maintain his current form – and although he shared the Hangyomon's level, his Hammer equaled them in size. And perhaps even worse, the new attackers came with twice as many Hangyomon of their own.

"I knew Jou was our leader for a reason. Should've known not to challenge him!" one of the Hangyomon shouted.

"I wanted to get Hikari, but not if it means fighting our friends! Guess we were too slow – let's make a break for it!" another shouted, and the rebel Hangyomon dispersed in all directions, none with the stomach to continue the fight if it meant battling the Chosen Child they had long hailed as their liberator and leader.

As the fleet approached, Zudomon devolved back to Gomamon, and Jou's followers deftly transferred him to a Coelamon mount within seconds of him hitting the water. But it didn't matter; even without Zudomon, they controlled the sea, and there was nothing the Kaiser could do about Submarimon's bombardment or Hangyomon's harpoons. The one time he did manage to hit one with an Evil Ring, it failed to fully control its target; he wished in retrospect he had spent more time analyzing what was ultimately his main weapon after TonosamaGeckomon had broken free of one.

"Everyone, stay away from the coast! Focus the formation on the landward side of the battlefield and let the coalition escape into the sea!" the Kaiser ordered reluctantly, as victory seemed to be finally slipping from his grasp.

But this fight wasn't over yet – and Ken still thought himself a better tactician than all the other Chosen Children put together.

"Well, we're back in the digital world, but where do we go from here?" a Pyocomon asked, and Sora had to admit it was a good question. The digital world was a big place, and surely there was somewhere digimon as small as Pyocomon could reestablish their home – but Mount Panorama wasn't it, not when they'd have to retake it and only had Garudamon to fight for them.

"We find food and rebuild there. You guys eat birdseed, right? Where does it... grow?" Sora wondered if 'grow' was the right term in the digital world, where no product, no matter how natural, seemed to have origins comprehensible by the logic of the human world.

"The forest!"

"Look for a forest!"

Sora was puzzled by the Pyocomon's answer; she had, after all, met them in an oasis. But a forest was as good as anywhere, perhaps even better – a tall forest on a hillside would surely be easier for a bird digimon like Garudamon to protect than a long, flat desert. "Ready, Piyomon?" she asked, holding her newly reshaped digivice.

"Hold on a sec, Sora. It says here I have a new evolution and I wanna try it out!"

Sora and Piyomon read aloud through the instructions on her revamped digivice, which identified the item contained therein as something called a "digimental", activated by saying "digimental up."

"Piyomon, armor shinka, Kyuukanmon!" The new form looked almost like a transitional stage between Piyomon and Parrotmon, with a mix of pink and green feathers along her body, but with the digimental's sleek white wings and a helmet inscribed with the Crest of Love.

"Sora scored an own goal, cost her team the game. Sora scored an own goal, cost her team the game." Kyukanmon repeated, much to her rider's chagrin, as she rose high into the sky in search of a new site for the Pyocomon village.

What she spotted was fire, lightning, a tall, black obelisk, and a platoon of Airdramon. And on the ground, in the distance, a bunch of Chosen Children, some of whom she didn't even recognize, desperately fighting back without evolved digimon – just an army of digimon allies, some familiar, some not.

"C'mon, Kyuukanmon! We've gotta help 'em out!"

"Sonic Shout! Sonic Shout!" the parrot digimon repeated, her playful voice suddenly turning loud and high-pitched enough to shatter glass. Sora covered her ears as the invisible attack progressed, witnessing it in downed branches, fallen Airdramon, and a shattered tower.

She didn't know what she had done – none of the chosen children did – but with her enemy's fleet in disarray, Kyuukanmon took the opportunity to fly over the battlefield and join the other Chosen Children, just in time for their digimon to celebrate.

"Huh, Taichi, I can evolve again! Agumon, Warp Shinka, WarGreymon!"

"Me too, Yamato! Gabumon, Warp Shinka, MetalGarurumon!"

"That tower must have been blocking our partner digimon's evolutions. I wonder why it didn't work on the new children..." Koushirou speculated aloud, as Tentomon, Palmon, Gomamon, Patamon, and Tailmon all evolved back up to the Perfect level.

"Sora can't work up the courage, wants to confess t—" Kyuukanmon began, seemingly oblivious of the situation, or perhaps unable, even in a battle, to keep a secret. A blushing and mortified Sora inched up to her partner digimon's head to hold its mouth closed, then dismounted as she devolved to Piyomon.

"What happened to me?" her unarmored partner asked. "I'm so sorry, Sora!"

"I don't know, Piyomon. But never evolve like that again."

"Okay, time to evolve the right way! Piyomon, shinka, Birdramon! Birdramon, chou shinka, Garudamon!"

Faced with eleven children and their evolved digimon – eight of them stronger than any under his command – a disappointed Ken ordered his Airdramon to descend to the ground, dismounted, and lifted his hands into the air. "There's no point in continuing this fight. I can't possibly win."

None of the Chosen Children really had cause to dispute his conclusion, yet they still looked to one another as if they didn't quite believe what they had just heard; the eight veterans all seemed to expect some new evolution or grandiose final battle, or at least for the villain to go down fighting.

"I should've realized that leveling your partner was the ideal strategy," Ken continued, as the others waited in stunned silence. "Sorry about that, Wormmon; maybe we'd have won this game if I didn't go for the Evil Ring strategy. Looks like I'm eliminated, unless..." Ken began, taking a second glance at Sora, "Hey, how did you rejoin?"

"Rejoin? Eliminated?" Sora half-wondered, half-asked; she had never quite thought of any of it that way, and didn't quite grasp what Ken was talking about.

"This isn't a game," an angry Takeru said.

"Well, I know the VR is impressive," Ken noted, not quite grasping Takeru's meaning. "But it's still a competition, there's still a way to win. I dunno how they marketed it, but it sure seems like a game to me."

"That's not what he means," Hikari responded. "The digimon are real. They're living things, not just video game characters."

"This world is quite unique, but I can assure you it's as genuine as our own," Koushirou added.

"What on earth are you talking about? Are you all out of your minds? These creatures are real?! Then why the hell are you using them to play world domination?"

The Chosen Children looked to their digimon comrades, then to one another, none of them able to say a word. After what felt like an hour of silence, the fallen empress, the Child of Light, Yagami Hikari stepped forward, looked first to Ken, then to each of the Chosen Children and their own digimon friends, and finally to the Numemon and Tailmon before bowing, her face pressed to the ground. "I'm sorry."

It was Mimi who spoke next – not to the Geckomon, but to the Numemon, Hangyomon, and everyone else whose toes she had stepped on in the service of Gecko Domain. "I'm sorry, too."

Jou looked in turn to his fellow Chosen Children, and the many digimon his Hangyomon had robbed – and the Hangyomon themselves, divided in the final battle. "I tried to be responsible for everyone, but I wasn't much of a leader. I hope you forgive me."

"Anyone would've thought it was a game," Koushirou mused. "And I couldn't do a thing to stop it. Sorry, guys."

"I should've kept you together. Hikari may be my little sister, but I'm supposed to lead all of you, not to listen to only one," Taichi said.

"And I shouldn't have run away," Yamato added, Sora echoing his words.

"I wish your first trip to the digital world turned out better." Takeru added to Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori. "We didn't exactly do a great job keeping things together. And Ken, sorry to give you the wrong idea."

Ken was certainly floored by the reaction he received; just what had he gotten into? Then again, it's not exactly like he was innocent. "I enjoyed the competition so much that I never thought to put the signs together that things weren't what they seemed to be. And in the process, I enslaved so many digimon and started wars no one needed. I should've known better. I'm sorry," he said, and then knelt beside Wormmon. "And I never quite treated you like a proper partner Digimon either. Seeing how the rest of them interact shows me what I missed."

"Don't worry about it, Ken-chan! I enjoyed helping you out, even if I wasn't quite the best fighter," Wormmon answered.

"I think it's time we go home," Taichi said. "We're clearly not the right ones to lead this world."

"But how?" Miyako asked.

"While analyzing the new digivices, I discovered a function which allows them to open digital gates at will. All we need is something electronic; even my laptop could theoretically do it," Koushirou explained. "And there should be plenty of electronics in Factorial Town."

"Take care of the Pyocomon for me!" Sora said, both to Piyomon, Meramon, and Kentarumon, and to all the digimon she had momentarily called enemies. "Their village got wrecked and I left them in quite a hurry."

"You're leaving, Sora?" Piyomon asked, clinging to her leg – a question written across the hearts of all twelve digimon partners.

"Guess that's another thing I have to apologize for." Sora answered. "But don't worry! We can go back and forth now, and you can come visit any time!"

"That's right!" Taichi said.

"I'm sure our families miss us like crazy," Koushirou said. "But don't worry, Tentomon, I'll be sure to visit plenty."

"It's time for digimon to take control of their own destiny," Hikari said, or was it the light within her?

"Goodbye, Digital World! Goodbye, Digimon!" The twelve humans who had saved a world shouted as they departed the land they once ruled, eight of them returning to a home they hadn't seen in three long years.

"Goodbye, Chosen Children!" What seemed like half the world's digimon – most of them bitter enemies just hours ago – shouted back in unison.

After waving the Chosen Children goodbye, a Geckomon and a Numemon met in a Factorial Town restaurant, no less regretful than those who passed through the digital gate. They had met twice before – once as advocates for their respective species in court, back when the Chosen Children were still a united government for all the Digital World. And again on the battlefield, after they had appointed Mimi and Hikari their respective champions.

"The gods sent us heroes from another world to save us, and all we did was rope them into our stupid, petty struggles." Numemon said, his stalk eyes drooping.

"You guys are welcome to hang out in Gecko Castle anytime." Geckomon offered. "We can even rebuild your old sewers if you want."

"Don't worry about that part, we have another home now," Numemon answered. "But thanks."

"We digimon really screwed this up, huh." Geckomon said. "I wonder if there was any point to all this. Maybe we should've just been left to the Dark Masters."

"I think we learned something," Numemon said. "They chose those children for a reason, even if they couldn't hold things together once we gave them power. Maybe they came to teach us digimon a lesson we couldn't learn any other way."

"Yeah," Geckomon answered. "No one's fighting anymore. I'm not sure who's in charge, but we all seem to be handling it a lot better. Let's make sure this stuff never happens again!"

"To the New World!" It was an odd toast – Numemon "holding", with his mouth, what looked like a mix of slime and very syrupy soda, Geckomon using his own horn as a drinking glass, and scooping it out with his remarkably flexible tongue. "May we rule ourselves together in peace, and avoid the mistakes of our monarchs of old!"

Notes:

Kyuukanmon is a real digimon, if an obscure one; she appears only in Michi e no Armor Shinka, and consequently has no canon appearance (if a parrotlike portrayal) or attack. Her description originates in my imagination and should not be mistaken for canon.

Oikawa (and Vamdemon within him), Archnemon, and Mummymon are still out there, but as Ken faced far more active opposition already ruling most of the Digital World, he was never able to build nearly as many Dark Towers. They'll try some other plan, even within this fic's dramatically altered timeline. But there's no good way to integrate it into this story, so I'll end things here.

I'd like to thank Vethica for beta reading this fic (and for being a wonderful person in general) and everyone else who left me feedback or hung out with and talked digimon with me; you inspired me more than you realize.

I hope you enjoyed it, everyone! Thanks for reading!