Chapter 33, Black Conquest

BLACK CONQUEST

Digimon © Akiyoshi Hongo
Eve the Cat © The Brawler
Team Guardians © SupergamerGreg79

Chapter 33: Watery Fall

- Wave Ocean -

Kari is hiding something to herself. It's something about Shadow that has been kept into her mind, ever since coming here from the Digital World. She's still isn't quite sure if she wants to tell him this secret of hers. It has even lingered on to her mind ever since leaving Holoska.

Shadow's group soon stops by inside of a cave, where they decided to rest there and stay out of the rain that was pouring over the ocean.

"Man, what time it is to be raining." Tai sighed.

"Oh well, at least we can rest a while." Sora smiled.

"Mm-hm." Biyomon nodded. "And we don't have to get wet, either."

"I'm glad your feeling well." Rouge said with an exasperated smile. "I wish I could say the same for myself."

"What's wrong, Rouge?" Izzy asked.

"Nothing. I'm just feeling a little hungry, is all." Rouge replied. "I haven't had anything to eat in some time."

"Me, as well." Tentomon added. "Ever since that attack back in Holoska, we had lost almost all of the fish that we had gathered."

"Really?" Tai wondered as he checked the cooler that he had brought with him. He opened it to see that there were only three pieces of fish left. "Wow, your right. I didn't even realize it until just now."

"I guess that what happens to your feeble little brain when you forget stuff." Eggman chuckled.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Tai glared at him.

"You were the one who went out to collect the fish. And now it is your fault that we had lost all of the fish." Eggman reminded him.

"That's right." Decoe nodded.

"You can never go wrong with Dr. Eggman around." Bocoe said. "Without him, we wouldn't have to worry about losing fish."

Shadow raised an eyebrow at this. "If that's the case, then why don't you go out there and catch some fish for us."

Eggman's eyes widened. "Are you mad? I can't go out there! It's raining!"

"Don't worry about that." Shadow replied. "Omega can keep watch of you."

"Uh..." Eggman was at a loss when Omega stood at attention and switched his hands with his machine guns.

"Well?" Shadow questioned.

"...All right, I'm going!" Eggman raised his hands in the air as a sign of giving up. "Decoe! Becoe! Your coming with me!"

"What?" The two robots shouted at the same time.

"You heard me! Get your metal-butts up and follow me!" Eggman shouted as he began to go outside in the cold rain while Omega followed him.

"Wait up, Doctor!" The two robots said as they stood up and ran after him.

Once they were gone, Kari sighed in relief. "I thought they would never hush up."

"You can say that again." Gatomon said as she rested her eyes.

Meanwhile, Izzy went to check up on his laptop. Tentomon seemed to notice this.

"What are you doing, Izzy?" The bug-like Digimon asked.

"I'm looking up to see how close we are to the Dusty Desert." Izzy replied as he turned it on and viewed the screen. "Hmm...according to the scanners, we are getting closer to the tower."

"How close?" Rouge asked.

"I'm not sure." Izzy said as the screen turned blurry. "It's hard to tell with this rainy weather."

Kari looked outside to see that the rain was still pouring down pretty fast. "How long do you think until it stops raining?"

"Who knows?" Rouge shrugged. "Let's just hope Eggman is doing all right trying to catch the fish in this weather."


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On the beach, Eggman was already shivering cold while trying to catch fish with his mechanical reel that he had built sometime ago. Decoe and Bocoe were also standing next to him, watching as the rain drips over their metal bodies. And Omega was there, keep an eye on him just in case.

"Oh, how long are we suppose to stand out here?" Decoe asked with a sigh.

"Why are you complaining?" Bocoe wondered. "Your a robot! You can't get cold!"

"But my circuits are freezing!" Decoe replied.

"You didn't have that problem back when we were in Holoska!" Bocoe complained.

"That's because we sat around a campfire!" Decoe fired back.

Eggman was already getting annoyed by their arguing. "Quiet down you dunce-buckets! Can't you see I'm trying to concentrate?"

The two robots quickly nodded in response. "Sorry, Doctor."

Eggman sighed to himself, finally being able to get back to his fishing. It was kinda rough, though, seeing as how it was raining. He casted in his reel as it landed on the ocean water. He waited for a few moments, hoping for a fish to come up and take the reel. He still waited. And waited. And waited. Then, he snapped.

"Hurry up you stupid fish! Take my bait!" Eggman yelled.

Decoe and Bocoe sighed in hopelessness, while Omega picked up something with his scanners.

"Red clouds detected. Approaching this direction." Omega stated.

"What?" The two robots, along with Eggman, shouted at the same time.


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Back at the cave, Rouge yawned in boredom, while the others started to grow tired.

"Man, how long does it take for him to catch fish?" Tai asked with his arms relaxed behind his head.

"I thought he was suppose to be a genuis." Agumon thought.

"I guess he's not smart at everything." Biyomon chuckled to herself.

"Biyomon..." Sora snickered.

Kari smiled at this before turning to Shadow, whom had his eyes closed. She looked at him and saw how peaceful he looked. She was a little nervous about something and it was something that she wanted to ask him. She decided now would be the best time.

"Shadow?" Kari spoke up.

Shadow opened one eye and stared at Kari. "What?"

"Um...I just wanted to ask you something." Kari replied slowly.

"And that is?" Shadow wondered.

"Well...it's, um...it's about-"

Suddenly, everyone heard screaming coming from outside. They looked to see where it was coming from. Over a mile away, we see Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe screaming their heads off while Omega was doing his best catching up to them. When they finally made it to the cave, the three of them panted repeatedly.

"What happened to you?" Tai asked.

"It's those black aliens! They're here on this island!" Decoe and Bocoe replied at the same time.

"What?" Everyone shouted.

"Where are they now?" Izzy asked.

"Out there!" Eggman pointed. "If we hurry now, we might be able to stop them."

"Well, if that's the case, then let's go take a look." Rouge suggested.

"Right." Tai nodded. "Let's go, everyone!"

With that, everyone excluding, Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe,headed out the cave and headed towards the beach.

"Doctor, aren't you going out there?" Decoe asked.

"No way." Eggman replied by shaking his head. "I'm sure the others can do it by themselves."

"But Doctor, what if the black aliens come looking for us?" Bocoe wondered.

Eggman paused for a moment, trying to come up with an answer. He then realized that Bocoe had a point. "Come on. Let's go."

"Where?" Decoe asked.

"To help the others." Eggman replied.

"What? But Doctor, I thought you said you weren't going out there again!" Bocoe reminded him.

"I know." Eggman said. "But if the world is like this, then there is no way I can build my Eggman Empire. Now hurry up!" He then ran outside to join the others.

"Wait for us, Doctor!" The two robots shouted as they ran to catch up with him.


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Back at the beach, the last of the armored-black aliens were dropped from the blood red-clouds as our heroes looked around at the sight of this.

"It looks like they showed up at the right time." Shadow replied.

"Yeah." Tai nodded. "Now everyone, let's take these black aliens down!"

- Digi-Evolution Stage -

"Agumon...Digivolve to...!"

"Greymon!"

"Biyomon...Digivolve to...!"

"Birdramon!"

"Tentomon...Digivolve to...!"

"Kabuterimon!"

"Gatomon...Digivolve to...!"

"Angewomon!"

- End Digi-Evolution Stage -

As our heroes charged into the action, Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe arrived on the scene as well.

"Doctor, what are we suppose to do?" Bocoe asked.

"It's simple." Eggman replied. "Strike at their backs, and they will be unable to continue."

"But how?" Decoe wondered. "We're not armed!"

With Shadow, we see the black hedgehog skating towards a black alien while avoiding gun-shots at the same time. Once he was close enough, Shadow raised his hand in the air.

"Chaos Control!"

Shadow disappeared in a bright glowing light. The black alien looked around for the black hedgehog, trying to figure out where he could have gone. That's when he reappeared right on the black alien's back and made his move.

"Chaos Spear!"

Shadow created a ball of yellow energy in his hands and slammed his palm on the black alien's shoulder area and and unleashed the energy inside it's body, where the black alien was instantly killed at that moment. It then fell to the ground after Shadow had gotten off of it.

"Hmph. Too easy." Shadow said to himself before disappearing in a flash.

Elsewhere, we see Greymon grappling with a large black alien. But unfortunately for him, there was another large black alien heading towards his direction. Tai seemed to notice this.

"Aw man, more trouble." Tai said while gritting his teeth. "Greymon! You got more company!"

"I can see that." Greymon said as he pushed the black alien backwards and saw another one heading towards his direction. "If the other one wants a piece of me, he can have it!"

As the black alien approached Greymon, it stopped. Tai and Greymon were confused.

"Hey? Why did that thing stop?" Tai wondered.

The black alien tried to move again, but to no avail. It stood there for a few moments before falling face-first towards the ground. It was not moving.

"What in the...?" Tai scratched his head. "It's dead."

"Thanks to me." A figure grinned.

Tai looked up to see Eggman carrying a laser pistol that one of the black aliens used to carry. Decoe and Bocoe stood along beside him.

"Well, my boy, it seems that I saved your friend some trouble, wouldn't you agree?" Eggman posed with his gun.

"Uh...sure, whatever." Tai sweat-dropped before checking up on Greymon.

"Hey Doctor! Heads up!" Greymon shouted as he lifted the black alien into the air and threw him a few feet towards his direction.

"Run for it!" Decoe shouted as the three made a break for it, barely escaping from being squashed like a pancake.

"What was the big idea for?" Bocoe shouted at Greymon.

"Yeah, you could have seriously injured us!" Deoce shouted as well.

"Whoops. Looks like my aiming was a bit off." Greymon chuckled before approaching the fallen black alien.

"Nova Blast!"

Greymon opened it's mouth and unleashed a fireball to the black alien's back, burning it to a crisp.

"All right, Greymon!" Tai smiled. "You did it!"

"Yep!" Greymon grinned. "Now, how are the others holding up?"

Up in the sky, our Digimon heroes, along with Rouge the Bat, were fighting off the flying black aliens. One of them charged after Rouge, but the female bat quickly flew to the right, avoiding the attack. She quickly retaliated by using her feet to kick the black alien's head, causing the black alien to flinch.

"Now to send this black alien down for the count." Rouge said to herself. She grabbed out a bomb and threw it with precise aim. The bomb made contact with the black alien, causing it to explode on contact and destroying the black alien in the process.

Elsewhere in the sky, two of the flying black aliens charged after Kabuterimon. The blue bug-like Digimon flew above them, avoiding their charged attack. Kabuterimon countered by charging after one of the black aliens and collided it head-on, sending the black alien flying towards the sandy ground.

"One down. One to go." Kabuterimon turned towards the other flying black alien and prepared to attack.

"Electro Shocker!"

Kabuterimon created a blue portion of electricity in his hands and fired it at the other black alien and destroyed it without too much trouble.

"Good job, Kabuterimon!" Izzy shouted from the ground.

"Don't relax, though." Kabuterimon reminded him. "We're not done yet."

"Right!" Izzy nodded.

Birdramon and Angewomon flew side by side, avoiding the flying black aliens that were charging after them. Birdramon used her fiery wings to burn the black aliens to a crisp while Angewomon used her Celestial Arrow to shoot down the other black aliens.

"How are things on your end, Angewomon?" Birdramon asked.

"So far, I'm all right." The angel-like Digimon replied. "How are Kari and Sora doing?"

Birdramon looked down to see them with Shadow and Omega, whom were also fighting off the black aliens. "They seem to be all right, for now."

"Good." Angewomon replied. "Until we're completely safe, let's take care of the rest of these black creatures."

"Agreed." Birdramon nodded.

On the ground, Omega fired his machine guns at two of the black aliens' heads while Shadow skated around their backs and finished them off by attacking them with his Chaos Spear to the backs, sending them both down to the ground, one by one.

"All right! Way to go, Shadow!" Kari cheered.

As Shadow landed on the ground, Omega scanned the area for any more signs of black aliens. Our other heroes, along with Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe, joined together as well, seeing as how their job was already done.

"Is everyone all right?" Tai asked.

"I'm good." Greymon nodded.

"So am I." Angewomon added.

Shadow looked glanced over at Omega, whom was still busy scanning. "Omega. Any sign of them?"

After a few more moments of scanning, the E-Series robot finally responded.

"No sign of Black Arms movement." Omega stated.

"Phew!" Tai wiped his forehead in relief. "That's good to hear."

"However. Sensors detect something within the water." Omega said.

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? I don't see anything."

Shadow looked over at the ocean closely. He didn't notice it at first, but there was definitely something moving around in the water. Shadow walked towards the waves that were splashing across the sand.

"Shadow, where are you going?" Kari asked.

"It looks like he must have found something." Sora thought.

"But what could it be?" Rouge wondered.

Shadow walked a few more paces before stopping. He stood there silently, as if he here waiting for something to happen.

"Show yourself, dragon!" Shadow called out.

"Dragon?" Bocoe wondered.

After another moment of waiting, something big bursted out of the water with a roar. It was a Cyan coloured dragon. It's scales shined bright rainbow colours. It had a short horn and a smooth tail and it's wings were almost bird like. The dragon stared at our heroes from above.

"What the heck is that?" Tai asked.

"It must be the dragon that Shadow mentioned!" Eggman replied.

Shadow looked on to see that something else was on the dragon's head. "Someone's on the dragon's head."

"Really? Who is it?" Sora asked.

The dragon flapped it's wings until it was hovering above the water. The figure one the dragon's head turned out to be Eve the Cat.

"Well now..." Eve grinned. "So your Shadow the Hedgehog, are ya?"

"And what if I am?" Shadow questioned.

"Well, then it should be no surprise as to who I am." Eve replied. She scanned the group with her own eyes. "Is this the group that took out that ice dragon? And with this low numbers? How un-impressive."

"Hey lady, we're a lot tougher than you think!" Tai fired at her.

"Oh, please..." Eve said with a bored expression. "Kids like you don't scare me. I'm a lot better looking than any of you losers."

"I like to see you say that to my face, honey." Rouge challenged.

"Watch what you say, bat thief!" Eve warned before turning to her dragon. "Now, I would like to introduce the one who will destroy you all; Aguis. This dragon will wash you all away and send you drowning into total darkness!"

"Let's just see it try, then." Tai smirked.

"Very well. Your funeral." Eve shrugged. "Let's get them, Aguis!"

Aguis roared again and took flight into the air. The three flying Digimon, along with Rouge, went after the dragon.

"Doctor, what are we suppose to do?" Decoe asked.

"There is nothing we can do." Eggman replied before crossing his arms. "All we can do is wait until that dragon is defeated."

Bocoe sighed. "Your right, Doctor."

Up in the air, Birdramon flew towards Aguis until she was a good few feet away from him.

"Meteor Wing!"

Birdramon released a few rays of fire from her wings and fired it at Aguis. Eve saw this coming and smirked.

"Idiot bird." She said. "Aguis, you know what to do."

Aguis ascended to avoid the attack. He retaliated by opening it's mouth and firing a torrent of water at Birdramon. The attack caught Birdramon and sent the fire-bird Digimon flying back towards the ground, soaked and wet.

"Birdramon!" Sora cried.

Birdramon landed on the sandy ground as she glowed and was de-transformed back to her regular self. Biyomon groaned in pain as Sora ran towards her and checked to see if she was okay.

"Biyomon, are you all right?" Sora asked.

"I-I'm fine, Sora." Biyomon replied weakly. "But that attack really weakened me."

Sora seemed to understand what Biyomon was talking about. Biyomon was a fire type Digimon and fire was weak against water. She'd only hope the others would figure that out soon enough.

Aguis fired another torrent of water at Angewomon, but the angel-like Digimon quickly dodged to the side to avoid the attack. Once that was out of the way, she countered-attacked.

"Celestial Arrow!"

Angewomon fired a glowing pink arrow with precise aim as the target flew straight towards Aguis.

"Aguis, look out!" Eve shouted.

But unfortunately for Eve, Aguis could not hear all that well. The attack hit the arm of the Cyan-colored dragon and caused it to flinch.

"Now's my turn." Rouge smirked as she flew towards Aguis.

Eve looked over to see Rouge flying towards her. She growled in anger. "I'm not gonna let that bat-girl make a fool out of me!" She pulled out her scythe and prepared to swing at the in-coming bat.

Rouge saw the scythe in her hands and did her best not to get cut by that weapon. She stopped herself before throwing a few bombs at her.

Eve saw these bombs aimed towards her and retaliated by using her scythe to cut the bombs in half with her scythe. Each of the cuts were successful and she managed to save herself from getting blown up. However, the bombs had smoke inside them, so it was a little hard for Eve to see through the smoke.

"Damn it! I can't see anything." Eve mumbled to herself.

As Eve complained to herself, Rouge flew in and striked her with her infamous kicks. Each one of Rouge's kick were successful by forcing Eve to move backwards with each step. Then, Eve lost her balance and fell off the dragon. Rouge looked down to see Eve falling towards the sand.

"Well, that takes care of her." Rouge smiled to herself. "Now, to take care of this dragon."

With Eve, she was still falling towards the ground at decent speed. Eve, however, managed upright herself by landing on her feet safely on the ground. Once she was safe, she sighed in relief.

"Well, that was a close one." Eve said with relief. "For a moment there, I thought I was done for."

"Your not out of trouble, yet." A voice said.

"Huh?" She looked up to see Shadow standing a few feet in front of her. "Oh great. It's you."

"It looks like Rouge didn't finish you off. That's fine. I'll finish the job myself." Shadow replied.

Eve gritted her teeth and looked down to see his shadow form. "It looks like you left yourself unprotected."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Shadow questioned.

Eve's eyes flashed brightly as her body started to dematerialize within his Shadow's shadow. The black hedgehog, however, did not know what was going on. Once Eve was fully gone, Shadow looked around for her.

"What just happened to her?" Shadow wondered.

Suddenly, something attacked his mind. Shadow held his head in pain, as he tried to relieve himself of the pain that he was already going through. The four DigiDestined kids seemed to notice this.

"What's up with him?" Tai wondered.

"Do you think he's having a headache?" Sora asked.

"Hmm..." Izzy hummed to himself. "Maybe. But I usually don't see someone in the kind of pain when they have a headache." He reached in his backpack and pulled out his laptop again. He scanned the screen for something. The others didn't know what he was doing, though.

With Kari, she could sense something was wrong with Shadow. She didn't think it was just some headache. She went over there to help him.

"Kari, wait!" Tai shouted.

But Kari ignored her brother's plea and caught up to Shadow. "Shadow, are you okay?"

"Agh...!" Shadow growled in pain. "K-Kari..."

"Shadow, what's wrong?" Kari asked.

Shadow tried to answer her, but his mind was attacked again. Shadow roared in pain as he fell to one knee. "G-get out of my head!"

As Kari looked on with a worried face, the other three DigiDestined kids joined her.

"What's wrong with him?" Tai asked.

"I don't know, Tai." Kari replied with worry. "It looks like something is hurting Shadow's mind."

"His mind?" Sora wondered.

"I think so. But I don't know what the problem is." Kari replied, as she looked on with worry.

As Izzy continued working on his laptop, he found something. "It's Eve. She's inside Shadow's mind."

"What?" Tai looked at the young genius. "How's that possible?"

"Eve has the power to astrally project herself into people's minds. I think she's doing this so that she can kill Shadow!" Izzy explained.

"Then...how are we suppose to help him?" Sora asked.

"I'm still trying to figure that out." Izzy replied as he looked at the screen of his laptop again.

"There is one way for Shadow to fight something like this off." A voice said.

The four kids turned to see Eggman, along with Decoe and Bocoe, walked towards them.

"Wait, you know?" Tai asked.

"If I know Shadow, and I think I do, then he can use an ability of his called Chaos Blast." Eggman replied.

"Chaos Blast?" Izzy raised an eyebrow. "How does that work?"

Before Eggman could answer that question, Rouge and Angewomon were sent flying down towards the ground, trapped in a large bubble.

"Rouge!" Decoe and Bocoe shouted at the same time.

"Angewomon!" Kari shouted as well.

"What happened to you girls?" Tai asked.

"T-that dragon had us trapped in these bubbles." Rouge replied weakly.

"We tried stopping Aguis, but we got a little careless and we got trapped in these bubbles as a result." Angewomon added a little weakly.

"Can you guys get yourselves out?" Sora asked.

"We can't...we're too weak to move." Rouge said, having a little trouble breathing.

"Well, then it looks like we'll have to get them out ourselves." Tai said.

"But how?" Sora asked. "Biyomon is still feeling weak and the only one fighting that dragon is Kabuterimon."

"Now worries. Greymon will help us." He turned to call out his friend. "Greymon!"

Greymon fired another Nova Blast from his mouth before turning towards Tai. "What is it?"

"We need your help!" Tai replied. "Rouge and Angewomon are trapped in this bubble and can't get out."

"No problem." Greymon said. "Hey, robot. Think you can lend me a hand?"

"Roger." Omega complied as and the large Digimon made their way to the bubbles.

In the sky, Kabuterimon dodged another water torrent blast from Aguis. Already right now, he was getting tired.

"Man, this dragon won't go down." Kabuterimon said to himself. "But that doesn't mean I won't give up."

"Electro Shocker!"

Kabuterimon fired another portion of electricity at Aguis, but the dragon again, dodged the attack by flying to the side. Then, Aguis charged after Kabuterimon and collided with the bug-like Digimon. The two tested each other to see which one of them was the strongest by pushing each other back. Then, Aguis countered by blasting another water torrent from it's mouth and sent Kabuterimon flying backwards towards the sandy ground.

Izzy turned at the last second, but only to see Kabuterimon making contact with the sandy ground. The blue bug-like Digimon landed on the ground with a thud.

"Kabuterimon!" Izzy cried out as he ran towards his friend.

Decoe and Bocoe looked on before sighing. Eggman only had his arms crossed while examining the situation.

"What are we suppose to do?" Bocoe asked.

"I don't know. It seems like we're the ones in the losing bin." Decoe shrugged.

"Doctor, what are we suppose to do?" Bocoe asked.

The scientific genius looked at Bocoe. "What do you want me to do? I don't have the Egg Walker with me, and we all know where that thing is at."

"Oh...yeah." Bocoe realzied. "I forgot about that."

"Me too." Decoe added.

Eggman slapped his head in hopelessness. "Idiots."

Shadow roared in pain again as his mind was being attacked severely. He was now on both knees and getting weaker by the minute.

"Damn you!" Shadow shouted in pain.

Suddenly, his body then slowly started to glow red. Everyone around him seemed to notice this.

"What is going on?" Tai asked.

"It's Chaos Blast." Eggman replied. "He is charging up red energy at full power. Once that happens, that cat will have no choice and that will free him of his mind."

Everyone looked on to see Shadow slowly standing on his feet. It took a minute for him to stand still, but that didn't faze him. He then closed his eyes as more red energy glowed from his body. After a moment of this, Shadow let out one more scream, sending out the dark energy that once resided inside him.

The dark energy reformed itself to be Eve the Cat, whom was looking hurt at the moment.

"Oh...what the hell was that?" Eve asked herself as she slowly got back to her feet. As she tried to regain her senses, Shadow the Hedgehog approached her with a serious look on his face.

"Your time is up." Shadow simply said as began to unleash his energy.

"Everybody! Hit the deck!" Eggman shouted.

"What are you talking about?" Tai asked.

"Chaos Blast goes up to a 20-yard radius. If we don't move now, we're all going to be caught within the blast!" Eggman replied before making a run of it.

"Wait for us, Doctor!" Decoe and Bocoe said at the same time while running after him.

"Let's hurry, guys!"

Everyone made a run for it. Once they were out of the way, Shadow unleashed his ultimate attack

"Chaos...BLAST!"

Red energy blasted from our of Shadow's body, destroying anything that got in it's way. The red blast also destroyed the bubbles that Rouge and Angewomon were trapped in. And as for Eve, she was sent flying into the air as a result of this blast. The height she had taken had sent her flying so far, that she landed in the sea, leaving no trace of her appearance whatsoever.

Once Shadow had unleashed his red energy, Shadow collapsed to one knee and breathed a couple of times. All of our heroes, excluding Kabuterimon, went up to check on him.

"Hey Shadow, are you all right?" Tai asked.

"Shadow? Can you hear us?" Sora asked.

Kari took a couple of steps towards him before stopping. She laid her hand on his head. "Shadow...?"

The black hedgehog had finally regained his senses as he stood on his feet. He then looked around, as if he were looking for something. He then turned his attention towards the air, only to see Aguis about charge after Kabuterimon with full force.

"Kabuterimon! Look out!" Izzy shouted.

"Galick Gun!"

Before the Aguis could attack Kabuterimon head-on, a blurry object zoomed by the two monsters and attacked the water dragon with some sort of electrical energy with it's hands. The dragon roared in pain as it stopped itself thanks to being flinched.

"Whoa...what was that?" Tai wondered.

"I...don't know." Kari tilted her head in confusion.

Suddenly, another blur came rushing by and attacked the dragon's head again, causing the dragon to fall towards the sandy ground. Before it could make impact to the ground, another blur came by and attacked the dragon with a laser sword that a figure was carrying, causing the dragon to make impact with the ground.

"What just happened?" Decoe wondered.

"Yeah. What was it that caused that dragon to go down?" Bocoe wondered as well.

The three figures came riding towards our heroes. These figures were none other than Armand Novak the Tiger, Gyrax the Cat, and Daryl Anderson. The same figures who raced Team Sonic at the Extreme Gear Mini-Tournament.

"Is everyone all right?" Armand asked.

"We're fine, but who are you?" Biyomon asked.

"I think that's the least of your worries right now, little bird." Gyrax replied.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Rouge wondered. She had managed to get her breathing back while Angewomon de-transformed back into Gatomon.

"That dragon is getting back up." Daryl pointed out. "Our attacks only caused that thing to flinch."

"Then how are we suppose to defeat that dragon?" Sora asked.

"Hmm..." Armand rubbed his chin. "Since that dragon is made out of water, I think it would be best if you finished it off with a strong electrical attack."

That's when it hit Izzy's mind. "I know just the trick to do this." He turned towards to Kabuterimon. "Kabuterimon! Are you ready?"

Kabuterimon nodded. "I'm ready!"

"Okay then. Digivolve!"

- Second Digi-Evolution Stage -

"Kabuterimon...Digivolve to...!"

Kabuterimon's body started to change forms from red to blue. His metal-helmet was replaced with a long red horn, his body started to change round shape, and he started to grow two extra arms. He also had large blue hands and feet, and had a skull-like chest on the front of it's body. It's back was large, circled, and red. These were hiding it's wings. This was Kabuterimon's strongest form.

"MegaKabuterimon!"

- End Second Digi-Evolution Stage -

Team Guardians were in quite a shock at the sight of this new figure. A large red-beetle like Digimon flew into the air with Izzy standing on top of it's head.

"Let's get him, MegaKabuterimon!"

"Right!" MegaKabuterimon nodded as he flew into position and prepared to launch it's most powerful attack.

"Horn Buster!"

MegaKabuterimon's horn began to spark with electricity. Once it was fully charged, MegaKabuterimon charged with full force, slamming it's horn right into Aguis's head. The dragon roared in pain one last time before slowly turning into dust.

"All right, Izzy! You two did it!" Tai cheered.

Kari smiled with delight. "Hooray! You did it!"

MegaKabuterimon landed on the ground as Gyrax went to inspect, but was a little nervous about this.

"Uh, hey there." Gyrax nodded nervously. "So, what are you suppose to be, anyway?"

"I'm a Digimon." MegaKabuterimon replied. "Want to get a closer look?"

"Uh, that's okay." Gyrax waved his hand nervously. "I'm good from where I am."

Rouge got a closer look at the tiger, whom looked at her. That's when she recognized him. "Wait a second, your the son of Tobias Novak, aren't you?"

"I am." Armand nodded. "My name is Armand. And I take it your Rouge the Bat, famous treasure hunter?"

"That's right." Rouge nodded back.

"You know this person?" Shadow asked.

"Yes. Tobias Novak was a legend back when a lot of people talked about him. I even heard he had a son who's following his father's legacy."

"And I take it that your his son?" Tai asked.

"I am. I'm happy to know that someone has heard about my father." Armand smiled.

"What are you doing here, though? You weren't turned to stone like the others?" Sora asked.

"No. and I'm still not sure why I or my friends haven't been turned to stone, either." Armand replied.

"But after we did some investigating, we had heard that it all happened at the Dusty Desert." Gyrax replied.

"So we decided to travel from there and see if anyone else had survived." Daryl added. "And it looks like we're in luck."

"So you want to join forces and help us out?" Izzy asked.

"I think that would be an excellent idea." Armand nodded.

Daryl looked around to see Eggman, along with his tow robot assistants. He narrowed his eyes at the trio. "Hey Armand, it looks like the good old doctor survived as well."

"I see..." Armand narrowed his eyes. "Was this whole thing your doing?"

"What?" Eggman shouted. "How dare you blame this on me! I did no such thing!"

"That's right!" Decoe pointed his finger at Armand. "Dr. Eggman had nothing to do with this!"

"If you want to blame someone, blame it on those black aliens!" Bocoe told the tiger.

"Wait...you don't mean the Black Arms, do you?" Gyrax scratched his head.

"I think we better explain the situation a little better." Tai suggested. "Follow us."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the group got back together in the cave, Tai explained the situation to Armand and his friends.

"So, Black Doom and Mephiles are the ones behind this, eh?" Armand asked with his arms crossed.

"And here we thought Shadow had gotten rid of them all." Gyrax thought.

"And now their after this Dragon Sword?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah. And they want to awaken this Black Dragon from long ago." Tai added.

"Black Dragon?" Armand raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, you've heard of it?" Agumon asked.

"My father once told me that story." Armand replied. "I thought it was just a fairy tale, though..."

"Well, whatever the case, that story is no joke. And we're here to stop Mephiles and Black Doom before they can achieve that goal." Rouge said.

"You don't need to tell us twice." Gyrax noted.

As the group continued talking, Kari noticed Shadow staring outside at the ocean. She decided now would be the best time to talk to him. She got up and headed over towards him.

As Shadow looked outside, Kari sat next to him. She looked at his eyes as they were fixed on the blue ocean while the dark sky covered the sea.

"Hey Shadow." Kari greeted.

Shadow glanced at Kari. "Kari. What is it?"

"I just wanted to see what you were doing." She replied.

Shadow continued to stare outside. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Kari smiled. "You must be thinking about something. Right?"

Shadow didn't respond. He just continued to stare at the sea. Kari only did the same thing as she stared at the ocean as well.

"The ocean is very beautiful." Kari said with a smile.

"...Yeah. It is beautiful, isn't it?" Shadow responded.

"It is!" Kari giggled. "I'm glad you agree!"

The two continued to stare at the ocean. That's when Kari spoke again.

"Shadow?"

"What is it?"

"There's something...something that I have to ask you." Kari told him.

Shadow glanced at her. "What is it?"

Kari felt a little uneasy about this. But she pulled herself together and asked the question. "Do you remember? Back in the Digital World? You said that I reminded you of someone." Kari explained. "Who was this person that reminded me of you?"

Shadow had remembered what he said to her. He turned to the sea again before speaking. "Maria."

"Maria?" Kari wondered. "Who is she?"

"She was a...friend, whom I once cared for. That was, until she died. Over 50 years ago."

Kari's eyes widened a little. "50 years ago?"

"It happened on Space Colony Ark. There was a terrible accident that had occurred. And everyone on it died. Including Maria." Shadow closed his eyes again.

Kari was kind of shocked to hear this but kept her emotions inside herself. "And this Maria person...what was she like?"

"She was Gerald's grand-daughter. And the only one at the time who I considered a friend." Shadow explained. "We were always close friends. And her one dream was to see what the Earth would look like on the surface...but she's no longer alive." He paused.

"Shadow..." Kari grew teary eyed.

"But that's all in the past now." Shadow replied. "I've moved on from it." He turned to her. "But you kind of resemble Maria in a way. And that's how I can admire you to her."

Kari smiled at this moment. She slowly wrapped her arms around Shadow and hugged him. He was kinda taken back at this moment. Then, Kari let go and smiled at Shadow.

"Thank you, Shadow." She told him.

"For what?"

"For being a really good friend." Kari replied softly.

Shadow half-smiled at her before turning towards the ocean again with his arms crossed as the two looked out at the sea together. Not saying a word the entire night.