Things are coming to a head! Not much left to do but to take on the source of everybody suffering. But first, everyone must take one last step, before they can step foot into the Dark Network. RainbowDragon AKA RD belongs to  rainbowdragon

Kiya belongs to  dragonsurfer Enjoy!

---

Preparation



The match had finally ended. And down in the infirmary, Blade had been watching quietly at the holo screen and grinned when Max came up top. But all of his excitement came to a halt as the ground started shaking a bit along with the sound of an explosion nearby "I have a bad feeling about this." He groaned, grabbing his blades from the side, using them to keep himself balanced as he got up from this bed.


RD snapped up flipping into a standing position using his stubby legs "What the heck was that explosion? Would make a good entrance though heh"


Blade rolled his eyes. He walked over to the regen pod and splashed some of it's liquid contents over his face, and sighed "Minor healing but it'll have to do. Take a small bit. I think we're going to be needed."


RD nodded as he splashed some on his face too "A star even one behind the turntables needs to look his or her best. In any case let's go" RD ran in the direction of the explosion. Slowly digivolving into Rythimdramon in the process.


Blade nodded, strapping both swords to his back as he ran along with RD. They would continue through the infirmary to see smoke coming from the hotel not far off "Might be Daemon and his goons again." He sprinted forward, watching as both Ulforceveedramon was helping the wounded out of the building.


RD winced as he posed again then remembered himself "Less posing more running!" RD ran into the hotel.


Blade rolled his eyes, following RD in. He saw a few figures in the building, blinking a few times and the next moment, the figures seemingly dissapeared. "Somethings not right here. Why would an explosion occur right after the big tournament ended?" Blade winced as a Rapier came charging at him, barely enough time for him to step out of the way "Who did that!?!" Another lunge caame at him as Leopardmon flew forward, his eyes glowing red

RD winced "That's....not good errr...Leopardmon? Comeon try and snap yourself out of it."


Blade nodded, cringing "He was alright the day before!" He grunted, taking out his Saberleomon sword to parry the rapier.


"The day before he wasn't under my control." The red hooded figure most digimon came to know as Daemon rose up from the ground itself, eyes locked on Blade "You might not want to get TOO relaxed..." He pointed a claw to RD's side as Ulforceveedramon came rushing in, tackling RD by the shoulder.


RD yelped as he jumped back, man that hurt, how did Daemon do that?!? No time to wonder though. Two royal knights weren't exactly welcoming odds especially considering their weakened states."


Blade cringed, looking both at Leopardmon then Ulforceveedramon "He must have corrupted LEopardmon initially...using him as a distraction and hoping we'd come rushing in. Gave him the perfect opportunity to infect Ulforce while his guard was down."


With a deep throated chuckle, Daemon responded "You're pretty smart for a dinosaur. I thought your brain was supposed to be the size of a peanut"


Blade grinned "You underestimate us reptiles..."


"That might be, but you two are in no condition to fight two knights. You'll be on our side before you know i-" He stepped back as a gold knife came flying in his direction, blowing out the wall behind him.


Another two blades flew towards the knights, knocking them off balance enough for RD and Blade to set themselves straight "Hope I didn't take too long." Max panted, hands on his knees in his Nikkoumon form


"You're right on time" RD smirked as the explosions helped them recover. pulling back so they could regroup for a counterattack.


Blade stared at Max, looking concerned "You're wearing yourself thin! YOu need to rest kid!"


Max shook his head a few times, smacking his armored helmet a few times. "I can rest once we drive Daemon out of here AND purify these two."


RD nodded "Let's just get Daemon out of here first" RD said shrugging as he adjusted his headphones which someone had apparently grabbed for him on his way to the rejuvenation pods "I'm all set here"


Max nodded a few times "Blade how long can you hold off the knights?"


Biting his lower lip, Blade thought about it for a moment then nodded "If I were fully rested...I could probably hold them off for fifteen minutes. Right now though, about a minute is all I can promise..."


Max nodded "Then let's drive mister grumpy pants out of our town." Max growled, as he rushed forward, his hand paws glowing bright hot. "Sun palm!" He roared out, aiming for Daemon's chest, though the demon lord stepped back a couple feet.


Moving to the edge of the room near the damaged wall, Daemon sneered and stood straight. "I'm not letting you cook me half breed."


As Daemon was doing that RD sent a laser in his direction "A light show always complements a performance...."


Daemon blinked, ducking out of the way of the laser "A light show would be perfect. Setting the entire town ablaze would be the perfect show."


Scav flew in the hole behind Daemon as Nobeldramon and placed a claw over his shoulder "I still haven't forgotten your attack on Azulongmon. Come out here if you want a real fight."


Daemon looked at the group and snorted "I don't like leftovers anyway." He flew out of the building with SD.


Max panted a bit, sweatdropping. "Well...now we can settle with dealing with the knights. I hate to say it but we're not doing too good. Those battles are getting to us."


"I'm a bit tired myself." RD admitted, wincing. "They really caught us at a bad time" RD suddenly blinked, having a lightbulb moment. "That's it, the timing, because of the tournament they probably figured we'd be doing this so of course they'd attack after the tourney was over"



Max nodded softly, taking a deep breath then tossing a knife in Leopardmon's direction who was about to impale Blade "The two of us were making the most progress. They wanted to capture us while we were vulnerable. We need to purify those two first. The problem is at our current state could we even hold them off."


Blade growled, using both blades to hold back Ulforceveedramon's energy saber "Less talk...more fighting!"


RD scratched his head but then dropped and came in on Ulforceveemon out of nowhere "Dance off!" RD was all over Ulforceveemon but you could distinctly hear a beat behind his movements, without warning RD managed to land an elbow straight to Ulforceveemon's face!


Ulforceveedramon let out a growl, his head bouncing back as he rubbed his chin "GRRAah!" He growled, trying to slash at RD. Max grabbed at that arm and cringed. "Please forgive me...Sun palm!" Max growled, his hand burning a huge hole into Ulforceveedramon's armor, where he promptly shoved his digivice into, a bright light enveloping the mega. "One down." Max cringed, before he started shrinking back into a Guilmon, falling on his back. He winced as he spotted Leopardmon infront of him, Rapier out and ready to impale him. "Uhm...guys?"


RD was back as he leaped in front of Max, despite him being one digivolutionary level lower he was fairly fast. "Sonic shockwave!" He roared, visable soundwaves emiting from his jaws and knocking the feline knight back some, covering it's ears in pain.


Max watched RD leap infront of him. Watching as Leopardmon was wobbling, trying to stay up on his feet. Max cringed "Now would be a very good time to use your digivice..."


Ulforceveedramon pulled Max out of the way, leading the Guilmon to yelp beofre the Mega handed the small guilmon his digivice "Sorry I...I hope I didn't hurt you guys..."


"You're good" RD whipped out his own digivice and jammed it into Leopardmon's arm, growling. "SNAP...out of it!"


Leopardmon winced, going into a deep throated roar as the digivice started forcing the darkness out of his system. He got to his knees, sweat forming over his head "How...unbecoming of a Knight."


RD shook his head, shrugging his shoulders. "They caught everyone by surprise. Don't beat yourself up. But they knew exactly what they were doing...targeting us as we were recouperating"


Both knights cringed when they heard that. Scav flew back in the room, checking out the wreckage and sighed "He got away from us. That really grinds my scales." He growled low.


"Ugh a perfect ambush but thankfully we managed to get out relatively unscathed" RD said shrugging and panting.


Scav nodded a few times "The casualties were relatively small. They were trying to send us a message more than anything."


Rolling his eyes, RD retorted. "Yeah but I think we sent an even stronger message right back"


Scav nodded "True. I don't think it's safe to stay out in the open. Let's get to the base."


RD nodded slowly "Right that's a good idea"


He nodded, picking up Max who was just barely struggling to remain awake "Especially Max! Two consecutive battles...and you didn't even rest while you were in your pod. I could heal him with one of my light cores, but it'd be better for him if he went about it naturally."


RD nodded in agreement. "They say that rapid healing can actually hurt in the long run"


Scav nodded a few times "Only if it's absolutely necessary should it be used." Max cringed, slowly drifting off to sleep as Scav started leading them out of the building and to the part of town where the base was hidden.


RD followed along, he was actually so turned around he didn't know which way to go, having to follow closely against Leopardmon.


Leopardmon and Ulforceveedramon helped both RD and Blade find their way back to the base. With one fluid motion, Scav pushed the stone that would send them down to the underground base, safe from prying eyes "Until you are all healed, we won't request the presence of the knights."


RD nodded slowly "I'm just tired honestly" RD said sighing "But I am glad we were able to hold off that guy"


Scav nodded "We'll put you three to bed. Honestly you three did more than any of us could ever hope for." Once they made it to the bottom, he placed Max on the closest bed and sighed "You guys get some much earned rest."


RD nodded as he began to sleep, knocked out immediately once he got into bed.


Kiya stretched out his limbs on a bench in the base. "We fought Daemon together this time...but he seemed stronger. Your purifying strike didn't do ANYTHING to him..."

---

Scav and Daemon landed in a small park like area. Both looking ready to fight as Kiya joined Scav to the side, fully digivolved into his Raptordramon form. "So we're fighting two on one? Intriguing..." Daemon chuckled, eyeing both of them cautiously. "Come at me if you dare."


Scavenger leapt forward first, his footpaws cracking the ground below him and setting a dust cloud in his wake as his scaled arm blade shot out through his wrist to strike at Daemon who promptly leapt out of his cloak to fight in his demonic form.


"You're not getting away!" Kiya cried out, his gatling gun in his arm aimed squarely in Daemon's sights, he charged at him will firing a barrage of bullets into Daemon's direction.


"Hah...you two are the same as always." He started jumping out of the way of the bullets, a low growl coming from him as his claws extended to Kiya's exposed stomach.


Just before the claw could reach Kiya, a light sphere enveloped Kiya to protect him from the attack. The shield snapped under the pressure seconds later as the missles situated over Kiya's shoulders took off, following Daemon's movements. "TALON MISSLES!!"


Daemon's gaze looked a little more stunned by this developement. He took to the sky similar to Max's air walk, and growled as the missles followed him around. "You've grown since our bout in the east! I can't see how you could take down Chronomon however."


Daemon leapt toward a few trees, letting the missles jam into the tree bark and explode harmlessly. This gave Scav enough time to sneak behind the demon lord and pressed a large white orb against his back. "PURIFYING STRIKE!"


Suddenly, Daemon was enveloped by a bright light, a few booming sounds eminating from within. As the light began to fade, he appeared as a Seraphimon for but a moment, then his image changed back to his twisted demon form. "You nearly had me. Had you not used one of those cores to protect your friend from my attack you could have purified me. Of course...I'm not being controlled." He grinned darkly, starting to fade into the ground. "Come to the Dark network. There we will have our final confrontation..."

---

Smithy approached the duo, giving them each a firm squeeze over the shoulders. "Daemon becomes stronger as the Darkness gains more ground in this world. We can't afford to dawdle. When RD wakes up...I want you to travel with him to the North, Scav. There he'll attain the power of the Crest of Reliability. It should give him a boost in power, and hopefully give him the added motivation he needs to attain Mega. Likewise..."

Smithy turned his attention to Kiya. "When Blade awakens, I want you to travel back with him to the east. It's time he finally accepted Victorygreymon's full power."


Almost without warning, Smithy grabbed Max's unconcious form and tossed him over his shoulder. Getting a warning growl out of a few people, Nova especially. "Smithy! Where are you taking my son?!"


Looking to Max's sleeping form over his shoulder, he let out a deep breath. "Max has reached a level beyond everyone else...I'm not saying it as a put down to anyone else. But his growth isn't one of physical power but mentality. Spiritually he is beginning to awaken as the chosen hero of the Light. He'll be safe in Baihumon's shrine, who will personally train him in the final stage of light control."


Fang hopped over to Smithy, glaring at him. "I'm coming too!"


"YOu have to learn how to call upon ZEED's power too. So that is acceptable. Besides..." Smithy's eyes softened. "I would like to personally train you. All this time...I'd never known I had another Nephew. And it was wrong of me to have neglected you all this time."


"How could you Neglect me if you hadn't even known I existed in the first place?" Fang replied with a smile. "I would be honored to be trained by you though."


Smithy nodded in agreement, before smiling. "Then we all have our roles to play. It takes at least a day and a half to travel to the North, and another day to get to the East. We'll all return to this base within a weeks time. By then we should all be prepared for the battle ahead."


Nova crossed his arms, watching as Fang and Smithy stepped out of the base, using the elevator to leave the area. With a low growl Nova waved them off and looked at the control panel. "It'll take at least a day or two for RD and Blade to wake up...How does he expect us to do all of that in the span of a week..."


Both Scav and Kiya grinned, pointing a claw toward Lyle. "Look no further that Lyle...This Quadroped is the best builder there is!"


Grunting, Lyle stretched his limbs and yawned. "I'll get to work on them right away."


(To be continued)