Tomeo walked over to the table the group usually met. It had been two weeks and he didn't expect anything to happen, but if it was going to happen it would be soon. He had still felt bitter about Shireika's decision about the key from their last encounter, but since then Shireika had seemed to prove herself right; Hanshin hadn't gone anywhere near her or the key. He could understand reasons why they couldn't hide it; but if Hanshin was actually a man of his word, what was the danger in doing so? And she hadn't said anything about destroying it - sure, they didn't pose a threat until they were all completely together, but it was still a bigger risk that they all existed in the first place. Destroying it should have been their first option. He had become content with the idea of Shireika safeguarding the fragment for now, but if the key became complete and the evil power was unleash upon the world, it would be his fault. His fault, for not pushing the idea hard enough.

With Parumon in his bag, he gave Shireika a small smile before he sat down across from her at the table, setting the bag down on the table so Parumon could peek out.

"Hey there." he said, looking around them. Parumon poked her nose out of Tomeo's bag, offering her own conspicuous greeting. No-one was in listening distance, but no-one else in their group had seemed to arrive yet. He looked back at Shireika. "Well, I've kept tabs on Naoko, but nothing more than the usual scheduled band stuff and dance classes. Nothing out of the ordinary, yet. So, have you heard anything on your end?"

***

"Same with Hanshin," Shireika said as she put her computer on the table. "Did you get this message too?" A screen popped up in front of Tomeo, showing her the message from the Watcher about the key fragment. "It's at my place. I don't know if Hanshin and his group knows about it yet, but I think we should get it. Keep Hanshin from getting his hands on it. We could avoid a lot of fighting if we get it before he even knows it exists." She leaned against a propped hand. "What do you think?"

***

Hanarei walked to the table where Tomoe and Shireika were, and plopped herself down in a seat next to Shireika. She stretched for a moment, rather bored with school, before putting her bag on the top of the table. Himotomon peered out from inside of the bag, but didn't come out, instead offering everyone at the table a small smile.

"Hey, you two," Said Hanarei, waving at everyone, "Nothing interesting to report. At all. Enma hasn't been doing anything of interest, other than what one could consider normal. It seems you have something, though." Hanarei directed her eyes to Shireika's computer, and glanced over the message from the Watcher. She frowned, and turned to Shireika. "It's at your house? Wouldn't that make it rather easy? All you'd have to do is wait until no one was home, and search your place." She motioned to the computer again, "Assuming that Hanshin knows about this, too, what's to say he hasn't already got it? When did you get this message?"

***

Asayake poured through the book in her arms, not particularly watching whre she was going. She was immersed in her English textbook, reading over some notes she'd stuck inside with a collection of yellow Post-It notes. "'Sayake," hissed a tiny voice from behind her, "Lots of people are already at our table."

"Huh?" Was the redhead's oh-so intelligent answer, her head shooting out of her book. She looked around, getting her bearings, and spotted the growing group at one of the tables in the cafeteria. "Oh. Whoops, almost walked passed them, too." She closed her book and joined the three people at the table, choosing to leave Rogishimon on her back. "Happy lunch-hour!" She said, pulling a badly squished sandwich from one of the pockets of her backpack and taking a large bite. She made a few indistinguishable noises before she swallowed, and tried again in an actual language. "Yuu's been as quiet as a mouse. It's been quite boring, actually. Ooh, what's this?" She joined Hanarei in reading, and smiled. "Well, that's easy, then. Assuming Hanshin knows absolutely nothing about it, this one is definately ours. I say we get is A.S.A.P.!" She took another bite of her lunch, and looked around the table for more imput.

***

"I got the message only a couple days ago," Shireika explained. "I can check as soon as I get home tonight. Dad will be out this afternoon and evening, and Hanshin, no doubt, will be off doing band work." She bit her lip. "Though, if he does know about it, I'd like to have you guys around. If you understand what I'm getting at." She looked around at the others at the table.

***

"It's going to take some work, but I think we can do it," Shouki said to Hanshin as he sat down nervously.

"Of course we can."

"But -" Shouki stopped.

"We're just going to have to break in, huh?"

"I-I-I wouldn't say that...well, um, yeah...I got Naoko to help out with figuring out a plan..."

***

"Oh, right. The message." Tomeo remembered, briefly glancing at Shireika's e-mail. "Well, mainly, I'm more worried about the bigger picture here. In the e-mail, the part where he says, 'It will be yours, if you want it.', it sounds like he's been watching us. If he hadn't, he would be assuming we were all working together to gather the fragments and it would be an urgent and important matter, not 'if we want it'. He sounds too casual about it, that if we don't want it someone else will. Someone like Hanshin. So, I bet the creep has been surveying us. And it sounds like he's getting desperate enough to enlist us to find the fragments for him too. It doesn't matter which side has them, so long as they're all recovered. I bet that's when he'll make his move, or after the key is assembled. We'd better be ready for him - or her - whoever he may be.”

He waved in greeting to Hanarei and Asayake, noticing only Tegiwa was now missing from their meeting. Which was strange, because he usually hung around Shireika. He just hoped to god that he hadn't succumbed to Naoko's temptations again, but he was going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was just late back from class.

"About the fragment at Shireika's house - we have to be prepared for the worst, like Hanarei said. Worst case scenario, Hanshin has the fragment and we'll have to wait for them to move to get the last one. If he doesn't and the Watcher actually hasn't sent him a message, we'll be around to help you out, Shireika. Although, I can't speak for everyone. I'll come with you to your house tonight if you like, provide some backup for you in case things do get rough with your brother. I'll have to phone back home first with some made-up excuse... I'm becoming pretty good at fabricating the truth."

"Shouldn't be too hard." Parumon spoke, the moment she had a chance to speak her turn. "With the fragment at Shireika's house, it should be a swim in the ocean."

***

Hanarei took some of waht Tomeo said into consideration. If the Watcher was really watching them, and he knew they were divided, why would he still want them to get the fragment? "The Watcher bothers me more and more every time he send us something. Why on Earth would he send us off on a fragment hunt, if he were to know we weren't exactly functioning as a whole? I think he's got some ulterior motives about this key fragment, the one at your house," She pointed at Shireika, and continued, "I'll go with you to get it, but only because I don't have a very good feeling about this. I didn't to begin with, but it seems it's only gotten worse now."

***

Asayake felt a shiver run through her when Tomeo suggested the Watcher had been doing some of what he, according to his alias, did best, and tried to hold it back. She sighed, before nodding her head. "I agree with Hanarei. I'll come with you, as well, but I'm getting really worried about this Watcher guy. No one should be allowed to be this... well, creepy, for lack of a better word."

***

“Sorry, I’m late guys. I was thinking about something so hard this morning I forget my lunch. I ran down to market to pick up a bento box and some juice. I hope I didn’t miss anything.”

He listened to them rehash what they had already said with a neutral look on his face. “I had been wondering about that. This watcher guy doesn’t seem to care who (of us) gets the pieces for him. Now, he finds it convenient to have us look for two at once…He has been watching us and manipulating us from the start. Even our division has come to work in his favor. He has us fighting ourselves and our own families. He is our true enemy. Hanshin is his dupe. I don’t see rocker boy ever getting the key, now.

“I’ve thought from the start Watch-dude *needed* us to get the pieces be it because we could or HE couldn’t. I think we should expect him to show up as soon as the last key fragment clears its hidey-hole. I just don’t know what we can do about it.”

***

Naoko squirmed in her seat a bit. Her encounter with Ami and Hanshin had felt her quite sore for that week. Ami must really hate her to have employed her fingernails like that.

“Yeah, Hanshin-anata, we don’t break in…we go in while its open and get locked in. It’s not hard to do at all. In fact, it’s happened to me before. Some of the display rooms are quite interesting in the right company you know!”

***

Hanshin grinned devilishly as he listened to Naoko.

"Of course," he said as he leaned closer to her. He whispered softly so as to not upset Shouki. "Though, certain company is far more interesting than a painting of a woman in the nude. Perhaps more beautiful as well." He sat back up and looked over at Shouki. "So, get ourselves locked in?"

"Uh, yeah," Shouki explained. "Then, we'll have to look around, but no one will bother us. No one will be there, and Shireika' group won't be able to get in to stop us either." He grinned nervously. He hoped it would be successful and that, while looking around the museum, he wouldn't accidentally run into Hanshin and Naoko doing whatever they normally do together. "We'll just have to make sure to avoid the guards carefully."

"And we're going to stay in the museum all night?" Hanshin asked.

"Uh..." Shouki looked over at Naoko. He prayed that she knew a way out of that museum after it had closed.

***

"And, he probably planned all of this. The division, the fighting, everything," Shireika said. "Whoever the Watcher is, he's smart. We're just going to have to be smarter than him." If only Hanshin could be that way. "So, come on by to my place. We have a get together. Hang out, eat something, do a little searching around. Dad won't mind since he'll be at wrork, and Hanshin won't know since he's got a band practice all afternoon." She shrugged as she pulled out her lunch. "And, no doubt the Watcher will notify us when we get all the key fragments found. He wants that key, for whatever reason he has, but we'll just have to play a game smarter than he does." She paused. "But, first we have to deal with Hanshin and crew. We actually know what they're up to, and we know that they want the entire key so they can stop that queen, whoever she is. So, first, keep the key away from them, and then away from the Watcher."

***

"Or, we can just generally keep all the fragments away from everyone, but keep them seperated." Tomeo said, nodding in agreement. "If we assemble it, it's just going to make the job for Hanshin's group and the Watcher easier." He looked over at Tegiwa. "And Tegiwa's right, if the Watcher plans to have the two groups look for fragments at once, we won't be able to get the fragment Hanshin recovers. We'll have to keep track of them in case that happens. It probably won't, but it could happen."

"So, we're going over to Shireika's place tonight? Sweet." Parumon said. "In comparison to your place, it's probably a lot more cleaner. And I bet it doesn't smell, either!" She grinned.

Tomeo furrowed his brow Parumon's way, and reached over to zip up his bag over Parumon. "Be quiet. You can come out when you behave." He glanced back at the group, changing the subject so no-one could overhear Parumon's muffled voice through the zipper. "Okay, we find the fragment, keep an eye on Hanshin's group, keep an eye out for suspicious characters that could be the Watcher, and keep key fragments away from both. Is there anything else we haven't covered?"

***

Tegiwa nodded as Tomeo spoke. “And, just because we like to picture the watcher as an old goof in a rain coat doesn’t me we should underestimate him. I’m sure he’ll be prepared when he shows himself.

“I don’t know what gives me more of the willies: his wanting the key or his knowledge of what we are doing. I’m glad our digimon have gotten stronger though; we might have some chance of dealing with this….entity.” Tegiwa had a strong hunch that this guy would turn out to be more than human and more than digimon. This watcher was far too close to be a world away. Gennai hadn’t sounded as powerful as this guy when his mom told him the stories. In fact, Gennai seemed to be a human living in the digital world.

The watcher was a tako. He was a damned mystery that Tegiwa couldn’t make heads or tails of. Out of Place. Unclassifiable. Linnaeus’ worst nightmare since the platypus…

***

Naoko smiled. “I hoped we might stay awhile…., but if you want to leave before opening…personally, I didn’t. I just hid where I was until morning, cleaned up in the washroom, and walked out with the morning trickle. I wasn’t in a hurry. But, if we don’t mind a little noise, there are fire exits. Or, maybe, windows but they are on the high side. The guard has a card key; Barney Fife might be persuaded to give it up. One way or another. Heh.

"I don’t think we need to worry about an elegant exit as long as we a quick abut it. Security works for us in this case. It hinders Shireika more than us. There isn’t much of real value in this museum so, only a few exhibits have tons of security. Most of it is geared to preventing vandalism and break-ins; the rest is there for insurance purposes on the few nice things. We’ll be fine, really.”

***

Enma looked from Naoko to Hanshin. Her gut told her she’d be doing well if she wasn’t on the team inside the building. She’d rather meet up with Hanarei outside if they met. And, the seemed to meet every time. She clicked her nails together as she asked, “We really going through with this? I see our digivice friends have been having a long meeting too.” She held up the device. “I hope their efforts are in vain. I don’t think security would stop that group on a rampage. They aren’t a highly paid corporate squad or anything. They are just old men with sticks.”

She felt her concerns were well spoken even if she didn’t really know what she was saying. It just felt good to have a say in things now and then.

“What’s a Barney Fife?”

***

"If Hanshin's looking for the fourth fragment tonight, then all of them will have been found," Shireika said. "He'll want our two, which means he's going to fight it. That means, we're going to have to defeat him to keep all the key fragments away from him. From there, we'll decide what to do." She sighed as she folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them. "The Watcher is another story. Once we get the key fragments from Hanshin, we'll have to worry about him. That is, if we ever actually meet him. I think meeting him and realizing his intentions will turn Hanshin and his group around. They'll figure out what kind of danger the key really is, and they won't want anything to do with it." She looked away from the group. "The Watcher is dangerous. We can't trust him. He's using us for something." Her attention distanced again, focusing on something far away from the group.

The Watcher was leading them off to a dangerous path. There was no dark queen, not that they knew of. Prophecy didn't mean it was true. Prophecy was just a prediction. It didn't always have to come true. If they followed a different path, perhaps they could outsmart the fates. They could discover a new destiny to fulfill. They didn't have to do whatever was told of them. They had a freewill to change destiny. They always did.

But, Hanshin didn't understand that. He believed fate to be determined and fixed in stone. If someone told him that he had to find this key because he was a digi-destined, he would do it. He wouldn't wonder whether there was something else he could do. But, if he wanted glory, he had to do the unexpected, do something truly great. However, what was that going to be?

This all made her worried, very worried. Following the Watcher was dangerous. Extremely dangerous.

***

"Well, we probably shouldn't stay in the museum all night. Our parents might get worried," Shouki explained. "So, we might just have to use a fire escape to get out of there, even if Shireika's group is out there waiting for us."

"And, if Shireika's out there, we'll just have to deal with them as always. While it will be all of us, I think it will be easier. Five of us with the key fragment is better than leaving two of us with it," Hanshin added. "Splitting up last time was a bad idea. We do better when we're all together." This all still made him worried. All five of Shireika's group were strong. None of them backed from a fight or doing what had to be done. Shouki easily would, and Yuu wasn't the strongest either. But, they could handle it. Destiny and fate would be on their side. They had to be.

This was what they had to do. This was their job, and fate wouldn't allow them to fail. They absolutely couldn't fail. This was about world safety. The fates wouldn't have them fail in getting the key fragment, right?

***

"Cool. Key party at Shireika's place, then." Asayake busied herself with her lunch, passing Rogishimon a small packet of crackers as she pulled out a small Thermos, "We'll have to keep an eye on the other half while we're nosing around your house, though." she gave her Thermos a glare, as it seemed to refuse to open, "Oh, just open already!" Giving the Thermos one final twist, Asayake sighed when it still refused to budge. "Okay, you asked for it. Rogishimon?"

"Mmph?" The bird squeaked over a mouthful of cracker. Asayake took that to mean 'Yes?'.

"Would you grab me the the weird-looking silver metal thingy in the bottom of my lunchbag?" Rogishimon nodded and disappeared into the bag. When she resurfaced, she had what looked like an oversized wine bottle opener in her mouth, a clamp where the corkscrew would've been. "Thank you." Rogishimon spat the contraption out into Asayake's hand before going back to her crackers. Asayake set up the not-corkscrew on her Thermos, and gave it a twist. It popped open, and she sniffed deeply at the steam that rose from it. "Yummy. Papa's home-made dumplings!" She grabbes the chopsticks from her lunch bag and popped one in her mouth, making many a sound of satisfaction.

***

Hanarei pulled out her own lunch, settling into her pop as she thought a bit more. "If we're all going to go to Shireika's place, who's going to keep watch over the Idiot Crew? I'm not sure each and every one of us should go. If we have one or two of us with a micro-phone, or something like that, those one or two could play watchdog and make sure they don't get any ideas in their heads."

Himotomon gave Hanarei a questioning glance. "But what happens if they do? What if they find another key fragment, or they decide to check up on the rest of us at Shireika's house?"

"We can use whatever communication device we've got to give the rest of us the head's up, and decide what to do from there. I'm not saying it's a perfect plan," said Hanarei, taking another sip of her pop, "It's just an idea. What does everyone else think?"

***

"Something tells me the Watcher may be smarter than he appears." Tomeo said, acknowledging Tegiwa's advice by giving a nod in his direction. He felt that the important part of the meeting was over, and now he was just giving his own opinion, using theory he had been exercising his brain with in Psychology class that morning. "We can't under-estimate him. If he's sending us messages through e-mail, he's keeping limited communication from a distance. He's trying to avoid us, and the theory that he's been watching us only supports the idea he's not communicating through long distance. He's in the area and he's hiding something. And he won't come out of hiding, I can only guess, until he's certain that he's made checkmate on all of us and knows we can't stop him. But he can't be watching us all the time; he shouldn't underestimate us as well. Prophecy or not, he can't predict everything that's going to happen. We make our own fate."

He leaned back in his seat, sighing. He reached over to open the zip on his bag a fraction, just to let Parumon breathe a little better. "Until then, we have Hanshin and crew to deal with as well. So, no matter how many fragments are recovered, it'll be inevitable that there will be a final showdown between our two groups for the fragments? Great. So much for talking resolving anything. No holds barred, winner takes all... it's gonna be ugly, judging by our last two encounters. Hopefully, Hanshin will honour us by leaving us alone after the fight is over and won't come after the fragments when we recover them... right?" He left that question hanging in the air for Shireika to answer, if she felt like it, and continued. "If we don't win, we're screwed, but I don't see that happening. We could lose, but we did well the last time we fought them. If we pull together and work as a team, we can win, I'm sure of it."

With Hanarei's plan placed on the table, he turned to her, weaving his finger together and setting his clasped hands down on the tabletop softly. "Hmm... well, Hanshin's crew could be watching us through the digivices. If they see a cluster of blips together like they can probably see now, especially in Shireika's place, they're gonna think something's up. But on the other hand... if they see three of us in Shireika's apartment, and two people outside standing guard, they're definitely going to figure out that we're up to something. If we act like we're not protecting something, it's less likely they're going to come after us." He smiled in self-satisfaction. Psychology class was paying off for Tomeo that day. He was becoming increasingly better at predicting how people were going to react. But of course, it didn't mean he was going to be right. It was just a estimated guess.

"And if they come to question us about it, we can make up a story that Shireika invited us over to her house for a meeting. Which is practically a half-truth, considering that the meeting's gathered for us to find a key fragment. And we have a better chance protecting the fragment if things get out of hand, than with the group separated. Both ideas have their merits; I just think that's a better idea. No offence, Hanarei. Does anyone agree? It won’t take much to make it work, we just have to play casual."

***

Yuu shifted in her seat. "I don't really like the idea of breaking out of a museum wither, but Shouki-san is right, we'd be missed. Besides, if there's going to be a fight, it would be better outside the museum"

The mention of last time's split stung her a little. She still knew it was her fault they had lost the key last time. Well, this time she'd protect it with everything she had. She had to.

She steered herself back to the thought of getting out of the museum. She mused, "Hm... maybe we can get out on the roof somehow, and our digimon can help us get down..."

***

Naoko deflated. It was true. Their parents might miss them overnight, but not Naoko who was greeted with a mixture of apathy and disappointment every time she wandered in after more than a day and a half. After two days, as she found out not long ago, her dad would change the lock codes on her. Mariko had given her the new code and her parent had made no comment about it. She was fairly sure her parents loved her, at least at some distant point in her life, but she would not be totally shocked if she caught her parents handing out her picture and schedule to would-be serial killers who lurked the dark places of the net. She also knew she ought not think things like that; the ease of the thoughts conception gave her pause. It had been a rough couple of weeks at home.

“Well, that’s just how I’ve done it. It might be possible to nab the thing during business hours, but I’d need to research that if you wanted to try.” She smiled at Shouki. “As long as we are quick we won’t need to be honest. A distraction and a smash and grab run could work, I think. I don’t think the key would be hidden in a Ming vase or behind a Renoir painting. It has to be a place Nikkosan can get to.”

***

“We could plan a get together. Since Shireika isn’t the party type maybe it should be a study session. It would be nice to have some cover, like the girl’s soccer team being there too, but between your brother and the watcher I’m sure regular people would get hurt of killed. So, it has to be us with our rears hanging out again.”

He wasn’t sure if spying on the other side was worth much at this point. Hanshin seemed to be concentrating on efforts away from the house. One key had to be with Shireika’s family and the other with Nikko most likely. There weren’t many old digidestines left around Tokyo.

“I just hope this watcher can’t take the keys away from us at a distance. Or use some sneaky power just as the key fragment appears. We have no way of knowing what we face. I would like to suggest we go at him at full power. With the world at stake we don’t have the time to talk nice to the monster.” He hung his head like saying those words defeated something deep inside him. He was right, but he was also ashamed.

***

"I wouldn't worry about it," Shireika said calmly as she stood up. "Either Hanshin will be there, or he won't be. If he is, he's looking for the key fragment. If he isn't, he might be looking for another one. So, we'll just have to be fast at my place this afternoon and keep tabs on them." She grabbed her bag and looked at the others briefly. "And if we have to fight, we'll fight. All we have to do is keep those key fragments away from them." She looked towards where Hanshin's group was meeting. "Like I said, I know Hanshin. He keeps his word, always. He'll make some agreement that the fight determines who will keep all the fragements, and if we win, he'll leave us alone. We won't lose to them either." She smiled at the group. "I'll see you soon. I'm taking the public transport if you want to join me," she said as she began to walk away.

***

"Well, we'll head over there this afternoon about an hour before it closes," Hanshin said. "Have a look around, and see what we can find. We'll pretend that it's something school related, or whatever each of you wants. Just look around carefully." He pulled out the first one they had found. "This is what it looks like. If you see it, grab it quickly and carefully. Otherwise, we're set."

***

"Since we don't know where in the apartment the key fragment is going to be, we're just going to have to search everything," Shireika explained. "Hanarei, why don't you search my brother's room and the guest room? Tomeo, the kitchen. Asayake, the living room. And Tegiwa, my dad's office. I've already done a search through my room, and it's definitely not there. I'll search my parents' room." She looked around. "Keep an eye on the digivice in case Hanshin's group is on their way. If they do, we'll get back to studying." She winked at the group. "We'll find it. I'm sure. All right?" She got up from the table and headed off to her parents' room. Well, technically it was her father's room now, but it would always be her parents' room.

***

Hanshin checked his watch as he walked through the modern paintings section of the museum. It was almost time for closing, so most people would be gone by now. People were starting to leave at the requests of various guards and volunteers for the museum.

"We'll be closing in -"

"Fifteen minutes. I know," Hanshin said. "I'll be out of here by then. I'm trying to figure this painting out." He glared at the man, who immediately left to leave him alone. Now, just where was this little key fragment? And where were Shireika and her crew to annoy them? Unless they had found something else to do...that was unimportant. He had a key fragment to find. He adjusted the bag on his back, which contained Koumamon just in case Shireika decided to stop them again.

***

Shouki walked around nervously through the Japanese history exhibit. Just about everyone was gone, and he walked slowly to avoid being seen by the volunteers who were pestering the people ahead of him.

He couldn't believe what he was doing. He was going to stay in a museum after hours and on purpose! Well, hopefully, this search would be easy. He hadn't ever been assigned to actually find the key fragment before, so he didn't know how well they had been hidden before.

He looked around, noticing the many displays. This was going to be a bit challenging.

***

"The kitchen, huh?" Tomeo asked, looking around the Ishida residence as Shireika departed from them, and left the others to step into the kitchen.

"Oh, not a bad place to start." Parumon remarked, from her position on Tomeo's shoulder. "Tomeo, fill up the sink with water. And make sure it's cold, I hate drinking warm water."

"Hey, you're supposed to help me search for the fragment, okay? I know you love water, but it's not like you're going to dehydrate in the next five minutes."

"Oh, c'mon, please?" Parumon persuaded. "I'm thirsty, and besides, I can look for the stupid fragment once I've been submerged. It helps me breathe through my gills easier. Shireika won't mind."

"Well, as long as you help me and don't get water everywhere, then fine." He stepped over to the sink and turned on the tap, Parumon slipping down to the sink to jump in. "Ahh, the water. Is there anything more sustaining?" she sighed, relaxing as she let the cool tap water run over her porous skin.

"Heh, why sustain life when you can kick some ass, right Parumon?" Tomeo snickered, commenting as he started looking around with the small torch he had brought. Sure, he could turn on the lights in the kitchen, but he couldn't look under the fridge with the kitchen light. Speaking of which, the fridge seemed like an idea place to start. The cupboards and cabinets in the kitchen seemed too obvious. He opened the fridge door, peaking in.

"That was supposed to be a rhetorical question." Parumon snapped back, between gurgles of drinking water. She turned the tap off herself with her tail once the sink was full, with some effort. She peeked over the sink at Tomeo. "Hey, now's not the time to think of your stomach. I can't believe you'ld want to eat out of someone else's fridge."

"I'm not. Who are you to talk about indulging yourself?" Tomeo asked, shooting her a look, then went back to looking in the fridge, crouching down. "Besides, Shireika's mother or father had to have hidden the key in a special place. Somewhere no-one would think of, somewhere ingenious. My mother hid the chocolate she gives to me and my father in the vegetable basket, because she thought we'd never look there. It worked for a time because when I was younger I couldn't stand veggies, and my mother did all the cooking. Unfortunately for her, my father grew to be a great cook, and I eat veggies as part of my diet now. I didn't take any, but the chocolate was gone before my mother knew what hit her. Now we just agree to buy our own chocolate, but the lesson is that she thought outside the box and found a hiding place we didn't think of at the time."

"Hmm... I didn't think chocolate was any good until I came here, so I guess I can see what you mean." Parumon said, as she went under to submerge herself underwater before coming up again. "Hey, are you saying Shireika doesn't eat any vegetables? She's a soccer star. I'm sure she would have looked there by now. I bet the fragment's in a better place, like the bend in the piping underneath the sink."

"Just a thought." Tomeo shrugged, not turning his head. "Besides, it's not a bad idea, but I'm not about to go plumbing in Shireika's kitchen on a hunch. You can look down the drainpipe after you're done there." After searching in the kitchen for some time, he checked his digivice for the first time for Hanshin group's blips. He blinked once, confused, then looked again at the map to check he was right. Where were they... was what he was looking at the museum?

***

Enma stepped quietly around the Egyptian exhibit in the museum. It always seemed like there was an Egyptian exhibit in every museum, for some reason. Not that she had been in every one in Japan. It didn't bother her that at any moment she might bump into a security guard, it felt exciting like any other dare she had taken from one of her friends. The bigger problem would be what to do if it did happen - she would probably have to run and alert the others, while Mitikomomon distracted them.

Mitikomomon followed after Enma, glad he didn't have to go at such a fast pace to keep up with his chosen since she had to go slow to stay quiet, anyway. "Hey Enma, I bet you the fragment’s somewhere around here. Hey, maybe it's hidden in this thing! I bet we can do something about the glass!" He bounded up to a sarcophagus, jumping up to tap on the glass since he couldn't reach high enough.

"Mitikomomon! Stop that!" Enma had to pause to turn around, stopping her partner from making so much noise. "I don't think it would be in there. Besides... uh... you don't know where it's been. Let's go."

"What about underneath those things?" Mitokomomon asked, turning his attention to another display of staffs and ankhs. "What are those for?"

"They were used by pharaohs, I think. They held them to show their rulership. Or, y'know, maybe for scratching those hard-to-reach places." she laughed faintly, making her own joke.

"Cool," Mitikomomon grinned. "Enma, in this form, every place is hard for me to reach!"

Enma chuckled, continuing her search. "That's not what I meant..."

***

Naoko ran her hand over a sarcophagus that lay in the middle of the room. “This piece is empty, and it’s also a fake. See, the lid moves easily.” Her face took on a dreamy and wistful expression for a second. “I’ll leave my comments at that.” She giggled—if her soft braying sounds counted as a giggle.

“I wonder if it’s in one of the displays; I suppose it could be behind the air dryers in the bathroom. Where would Hanarei’s dad place it… He’s nervous, but with his daughter anyone would be nervous. He’d place it where he could see it. Check on it. So, yes, it would be hidden in the open. Don’t you agree Emna?”

Suzumon puffed up into a tinfoil ballon. “Hmmm, Naoko? What are you doing?”

“I’m thinking. I’m trying to figure out where the key is hidden by thinking like Nikko-san. It’s called profiling. Don’t you watch detective show.”

“I just watch what you do. Are detective shows those ones with people with no clothes on.”

“No, no…I guess you haven’t seen any then. The tapes with the naked people are the ones we don’t mention to other people.” She jerked her head toward Enma.

“And, those toys?”

“Yes, don’t mention them either.”

***

Tegiwa rummaged around in Tommy’s office feeling a bit like an intruder. He was, in one way, breaking a friend’s trust. Tommy wouldn’t allow the kids in here with him. It was tommy’s sanctum or refuge of sorts. Tegiwa went through the books, papers, and files very carefully. He tried to place each paper back exactly where he found it.

After a long, meticulous search he found nothing. He’d have to search the desk next. He dreaded this. The desk was a very nice desk, and Tommy always, always kept it locked. He didn’t want to break the thing by jimmying the mechanism. He sighed because he was out of options and places to search.

He started a mental list of things he’d need as he walked into the kitchen. He turned to Tomeo as he remove the toolket from the cabinet.

“Tomeo, think you could had me the torch from under the sink?”

***

Hanshin hid behind a wall as a final volunteer checked the modern art gallery and waited for the lights to turn off. Finally, the museum was theirs.

"All right, time to start looking," he whispered as he walked through the art gallery. He lifted each painting carefully. Thankfully, this was a low-key museum, so each painting wasn't under surveillance.

Mayonaka Sensei could have hidden the key fragment just about anywhere in the museum. Okay, some place he could easily check. Quickly stashed behind a sculpture, a painting, anything. But not too hidden away. From what he had heard from the others, the key fragments had been put in places that were hidden, but they were fairly accessible. Accessible so the protector could check on it frequently if needed. And in a public place like this, it would be far more in the open than in a home.

"Where is it?" Hanshin hissed as he checked a final painting with no luck. The others had been found by chance though. Fate had been on their side in finding the key fragments before. Fate would be on their side again, right?

He sat down and pulled out his computer.

[Anyone had any luck? Not in modern art. - Hanshin]

***

Shouki sighed when it appeared that everyone was really gone, but it was weird to be in teh musem after hours. He still was so uncomfortable with this.

"Hey, chill already," Kirimon said as Shouki let him out. "Just take a careful look around. If it's not here, you're done. If it is, get it to Hanshin. Piece of cake."

"Right," Shouki replied, but he didn't move.

"Breathe!" Kirimon hissed. "You're going to have to relax. Hanshin's got things under control."

"Right."

"Okay, move those legs, or you won't discover anything!"

"Yeah."

"Oy. The least you could do is check your computer. Hanshin messaged you."

"Ack! He's already finished that section!"

"Don't have a heart attack."

***

Shireika wandered out of her parents' room into the kitchen.

"Just getting a drink," she said as she grabbed a bottle of juice from the fridge quickly. She had overheard Parumon suggest the kitchen sink. "No, it's not there." She pulled out the key fragment from her pocket and showed it to Parumon. "It's too big to fit in the piping. Besides, I would have found it considering Dad dropped his wedding band down the sink two weeks ago, and he had me fish it out for him." She chuckled softly as she left the kitchen. Her father couldn't tell the difference between a hammer and screwdriver even if someone just told him. "I don't know how he survives in that office of his when the computer breaks down." Okay, he wasn't that bad, but he had generally been awkward with tools for some reason. Maybe he did it to amuse his children.

She resumed her search of the closets in her parents' room. How much stuff did her mother have? Her father's closets were easy to search through, considering he pretty much left everything out. Plus, he really didn't have that much stuff. Her mother's were another story.

When she died, he put everything away into her closet. The only things he kept out of her were special photographs, but those were in his office. It was his way of mourning her, his way of handling it. Having all her awards out probably reminded him too much of how much he loved her, so he had to put it away for his own sanity.

It was strange to go through all of her mother's things. Haunting.

"Follow your heart, and things will always work out as they should." What did her mother mean?

***

Hanarei picked through the clutter in Hanshin's room. She was trying to save all of what she considered to be the most dangerous portions of the room until last; unfortunately, avoiding the cloaset didn't seem to matter, as there were enough clothes scattered around the room to fill it again. She dearly hoped most of them were clean as she scuffed a pair of boxers from the floor with her foot, clearing a space so she could peek underneath the bed. As she was trying to create some type of sanitary kneeling area, Himotomon was bobbing cross Hanshin's desk, peering behind the things she found there. "Hanarei, should I be looking in the drawers, too?"

"It... couldn't hurt," Hanarei replied, picking up a sock from under the bed and throwing it away quickly, "Just be careful. I have no idea what Hanshin keeps in his desk, nor do I really want to find out all that badly."

"Okay..." Himotomon got a little worried at the tone of Hanarei's voice, but poked her head into one of the already open drawers of Hanshin's desk.

"Well, there's nothing under OH DEAR GOD GET IT OFF!" Hanarei scrambled to her feet, shaking a neon orange thong off of her hand and grimacing; she hoped dearly it wasn't Naoko's. Himotomon looked up from the drawer, staring at the undergarment on the floor.

"I didn't know boys wore those, too. They must be comfortable."

Hanarei's face turned a sickly shade of pinkish-purple, and she decided to busy herself in the guestroom, and return to Hanshin's room later.

***

Carefully moving aside a photograph of Shireika and who she assumed would be her father, Asayake leaned over the side table so she could look behind the couch. She edged it away from the wall slightly, flicked on the lamp beside her, and concluded that whoever cleaned Shireika's house was extremely thorough. "Nothing behind the couch." The redhead stated, looking around the room. There was nothing uder the coffee table or hidden in the shelves, either. Rogishimon was currently fluttering around near the ceiling, looking on the very tops of the shelves for anything that might resemble a key shard. "Anything up on your end?"

"Some dust, but nothin' interesting." Rogishimon said, flying down to look in the higher shelves of the entertainment center. "You found anything yet?"

"Not yet." Asayake said, looking around the living room. She felt like she was invading the privacy of Shireika's home which, she concluded, she actually was. There were photographs all over the place, and she felt like she was contaminating everything she touched. "This is going to take a while. They have a lot of stuff in here, and this is a pretty big room."

"Hey, Asayake," Rogishimon called, hopping down to one of the lower shelves, "Who's this lady? She looks a lot like Shireika."

"Huh? Rogishimon, I don't think... Oh." Asayake said, wandering over to the picture in question. The woman in there was smiling. She was rather pretty, and she really did look a lot like Shireika. "I guess that's Shireika and Hanshin's mom."

"Oh. How come she doesn't live here?" Rogishimon asked, looking curiously at the other photos.

"I don't think that's any of our business." Asayake said, extremely uncomfortable now. "Let's just keep looking."

***

"Uh, shouldn't you be bugging one of the boys, or at least looking somewhere else?" Enma questioned Naoko. She clearly couldn't see what Naoko's interest in her was; maybe she was just trying to be friendly. From Naoko's strange expressions, though, and the conversation she was having with Suzumon, she didn't think she wanted to know.

"Uh, I guess it does make more sense that it would be hidden in the open.” she agreed, ignoring what she had heard. "Discreet, but not too discreet." She checked her e-mail as her computer beeped, reading Hanshin's message. She wrote back a quick note:

[Hanshin,

Nothing here in the Egyptian exhibit. Naoko's here and suggested it would be more out in the open where Hanarei's dad could have easy access to it, so he can check up on it, so I don't think we need to break open any glass cases. Going to check the Da Vinci exhibit.

- Enma]

"So, can we go now? I want to see the next room." Mitokomomon said, tired of sitting in the one spot.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go." She looked at Naoko for a minute. "You might want to check the next exhibit across the way. Good luck." She waved, stepping into the Da Vinci exhibit. There were a few items of the famous inventor from the Renaissance, but nothing more important than a few of his models and some of his less famous drawings and sketchbooks. All the rest of it must have been over in Europe. She squinted her eyes, peering into all the cases as Mitikomomon went to investigate a strange-looking tank-like machine. It felt too dark in here. Why didn't she remember to bring a torch?

***

"Here's your torch, Tegiwa." Tomeo answered, handing him the one he had spotted Tegiwa mentioning from under the sink. He turned his position from looking in the freezer as Shireika came into the room.

"Neither of you guys have had any luck yet?" he questioned. "Me neither. Hopefully, Asayake or Hanarei have had better luck than we’ve had." Having searched the entire fridge, he turned his attention to the cabinets in the kitchen. He tried to think logically, guessing every hiding spot the fragment could be placed, as he started sifting through countless Tupperware containers, cutlery, dishcloths, saucepans and recipe cookbooks. "Wow. These dishes are spotless, like almost brand new.” He commented to no-one in particular. “And I don't see a dishwasher anywhere..."

"Thanks." Parumon said to Shireika, before she left the kitchen. "See? I told you she wouldn't mind. Well, guess my work's done, if it ain't in the piping." Parumon giggled, waiting for Tomeo's reaction.

"C'mon Parumon, seriously now." Tomeo called over to her, not stopping his search as he came across a locked drawer. Either that or it was very stuck. "I could use your help here! If we don't find this fragment tonight, there's a chance Hanshin will. Shireika's shown you what it looks like. Besides, the other digimon are probably helping their partners, so why don't you get off your lazy can and start by looking under the fridge for me? It's the only place I can't see." He turned to Tegiwa. "Before you go, you wouldn't have a lockpicking set in that toolkit, would you? Either that, or a screwdriver and a hammer would do."

"Fine." Parumon kept continuing to giggle, but slid out of the sink and hopped onto the linoleum of the kitchen floor. "Let's see... ugh, someone needs to vacuum under here every once in a while. Yuck..." she complained, sticking her tongue out as she slid easily under the refrigerator. "I sure hope no-body left some sort of gross experiment under here to see how long it takes bread to turn grey and taste bad... or else, I'm throwing it out onto the street at the first member of the Hanshin fan-club that shows up..."

***

Shireika closed the last of the boxes in the closet and put it back. Nothing. Well, years of memories, but no key fragment. It had to be in the apartment. There was no other place that it could be. She knew her father very well, and she knew that if he was going to hide something, he'd keep it in his home so it'd be nearby. There were about a million places where he would stash the stupid key fragment.

She got up from the floor and ran a hand through her hair. It wasn't here. The closets were cleared. Not in the bathroom. Not at her mother's old desk. No hidden panels in the walls. Where was it? She hoped the others were having more luck.

"Nothing?" Alatusmon asked as he appeared from under the bed.

"Nope," Shireika replied.

"Same under the bed. Not even a spec of dust!"

Shireika flopped onto the bed to check her digivice. They were all somewhere, probably searching for the last of the key fragments. Well, the sooner they found this one, the sooner they could get over there to stop Hanshin and crew. Though, she had a feeling that they were going to be a little late for that and would fight to have to take control over the key fragments.

Well, at least, there was a good chance that the key could stay out of her brother's hands.

***

Hanshin continued through the art galleries walking into the French art exhibit. More paintings. Where would Mayonaka Sensei have hidden that key fragment?

He sighed as he looked down at his digivice. There was a cluster of dots around his, but there was another...at his home. What was Shireika up to? A study party, or a search party?

Well, if Shireika and her group found that key fragment tonight, then all of them would be found. That meant he was going to have to fight to get them all. He was prepared to do that. He'd have to if he was going to stop that dark queen, and there was no way Shireika was going to stop him. What was she thinking by trying to defy the fates?

***

Shouki took a deep breath as he took a couple steps forward into the exhibit.

"That's it," he heard his partner tell him as he began to look around.

Shouki's eyes darted around as he looked at an exhibit. He had to be careful, or he might just miss it among all the displays. He approached one featuring a shogun. There were people facing the shogun within the display-case, and behind the grand figure were various treasures and trinkets.

He pressed his face against the glass as he tried to get a better look at it. Then, something caught his attention. Was that it? Had he found it?

"Kirimon? Is that it?" he asked as he pointed at the display, his finger stopped by the clear barrier.

The little digimon hopped over as he tried to get a good look. He leaned against the glass as he peered in.

"It sort of looks like it," Kirimon mumbled as he looked at it. "Email the others for help."

Shouki quickly pulled out his computer and wrote a quick message:

[I think I found it here. I'm in the Japanese history exhibit, near the shogun display. Anyway, I think it's here, but can someone come check? I'm not quite sure. And if it is, how are we supposed to get something out of a display? -Shouki]

He felt somewhat stupid. He was the one who had been in charge of this hunt, but this was so nerve-wracking. He was in a museum after hours, and he was attempting to break into an exhibit to take a key fragment! What was he doing? Was he really doing the right thing? No, he was. He had to. He had to stop that dark queen. He had to do this for the safety of the world. The world would understand breaking into the museum to do this. This was important!

***

Yuu came out of the bathroom soon after the museum closed. She had stayed in there to avoid being shown out by the guards, and, at Kuinamon's insistence, searched it for the key in the meantime. As expected, it wasn't in there.

"I told you, Kuinamon," she explained as they headed towards the nearest exhibit, "That's a girl's bathroom. A guy probably wouldn't hide something in there, that would just be weird"

"Then why don' we check the guy's bathroom?"

"... I'll tell you what. If we don't find it in the rest of the museum, then you can look in there"

They ended up in the Japanese art exhibit and searched it as thoroughly as they could without actually pulling up nails, but no luck. Yuu heard her computer beeping and pulled it out, read Hanshin's email and sighed. It looked like he hadn't found anything either. She leaned against the wall and thought about it. Maybe they were going about this the wrong way. Maybe it wasn't behind a painting or under a display or anything like that, maybe it was... hidden in plain sight? Something clever like that. That's the way people hid this sort of thing.

"Oi, Yuu, looks like you got another one"

She looked down at Kuinamon tugging on her pant leg and realized her computer was beeping again. She pulled it out and checked the new email; it was from Shouki, and... She scooped Kuinamon up and left quickly. The Japanese history exhibit wasn't to far from where she was, so she got there pretty fast. "I got your message," she said as she approached Shouki. "Where did you see it?"

Kuinamon, still slightly confused as to why they had up and headed here so fast, saw the other digimon peering through the see-through case with the funny looking human in it and tried to see what he was looking at. It didn't take long for him to recognize the trinket he'd seen at that apartment two weeks ago.

"Oi, tha's it!" he exclaimed, pointing a fin at the fragment. "Tha's the one! Nice job, ponytail! Ya found it!"

Yuu turned to look where her partner was pointing. Well... Hidden in plain sight after all.

"I guess we'll just have to break the display or something..." she mused regretfully.

"Unless... how did it get in there, anyway? Is there some sort of service entrance?"

***

"Uh," Shouki mumbled as he took a step back from the display. "I have no -"

"Look, there's a door in there!" Kirimon said softly. He pointed towards a door in the back of the display.

Shouki felt stupid. Of course there would be a way into the display. After all, they had to clean it occasionally and maybe change it if needed. He really wished Naoko were here. She had more information on this than he did, and she generally was more prepared. Thanks to her talent for micro-management. Why did Hanshin put him up to this job?

"Hey, where is it?" Hanshin asked as he hurried into the exhibit. He walked up to the display.

"Behind the shogun," Shouki replied softly.

"Well, this proves to be an interesting situation," Hanshin mused as he gazed in at the key fragment which lay at the shogun's feet. He wondered if perhaps Naoko had prepared a little and figured out how to deal with all of this. Otherwise, they would just have to break the glass. Then again, no one would notice anyhow. They weren't taking anything the museum would miss. The museum probably didn't know that the key fragment was even there to begin with.

***

“Thanks Tomeo. I needed the flashlight too, but I meant the thing with the butane canister next to it….Got it.” He looked at Shireika guardly. “I promise I’ll try to leave some of your Dad’s desk standing. “ He grabbed a handful of butterknives, some rubber tubing, and a candybar before leaving. “Hungry,” was all he said.

Ten minute’s later there was a soft “Bam” from Tommy’s office and Tegiwa emerged with the key fragment in his soot covered hand. The rest of him looked lightly blacken as well.

“I lost my eyebrows, but I got the key. That’s an even trade. But your dad lost a drawer. Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly.

***

“Oooh, I didn’t know they had a Japanese History Exhibit here. I wonder which way it is?” Naoko followed the dots on her digivice toward the goal while only getting lost twice in the labyrinth of exhibits.

“This way, this way! Naoko!” Suzumon ran ahead to keep her on the right path.

Naoko joined Shouki and the others. “Saaaa. I think you found it. Want me to take you out on the town to celebrate?” She managed not to leer at Shouki when she said it. She didn’t think he’d ever go for her kinds of nights out.

***

"Hey, good work, Tegiwa! You got the fragment!" Tomeo said, getting up and stepping out of the kitchen for a moment. "Asayake, Hanarei! We found the fragment!" he called to the girls, stepping back in.

"You mean I crawled under the fridge for no reason!?" Parumon fumed, marching up to where Tomeo was standing. "I knew it. Just my luck the fragment was found the moment I started looking."

Tomeo picked her up, and at the same time walked over to the sink to clean up the mess she had left behind. "You would have kept looking in more meaningless spots for the fragment, anyway. At least we found the thing, now we can get going." He turned back around to look at the key fragment in Tegiwa's hand, then at Shireika. "So, what now? I figure it's probably too late to recover the fragment Hanshin's group is after, so... I guess we should call it a night."

***

Enma followed after Naoko, letting her lead her to the historic Japanese exhibit where the others were already assembled.

Mitokomomon scurried in front of her, checking out the key fragment lying in plain sight at the feet of the suit of human armor. "Alright, we found the key! So, uh, how do we get it out?"

"Through the back door there." Enma replied to her partner, trying not to make it sound too obvious. "Let's just hope that we're lucky and that they haven't locked it. If it is and no-one's talented at lock-picking, then..."

"... we'll have to smash it, won't we? Cool!" Mitokomomon finished her sentence. "I could do it. And then the window would be, like, KER-SMASH!" he yelled loudly.

"Shhh, Mitokomomon! We're still not supposed to be in here, remember?" Enma picked up her partner, trying to calm him down. "And we're still going to use all means necessary to get into there before smashing it open. The glass could be security-proof, and breaking it could trigger an alarm. Oh, and Shouki, try not to leave your fingerprints on anything. If we do end up having to resort to a hit-and-run, we don't want tonight to backfire on us..."

***

Hanarei walked down the hall from the guestroom -- which had, thankfully, been far more sanitary than Hanshin's room -- and stopped to pick Himotomon out of the clutter of what she decided would be forever called The Pit. "Come on, Himotomon," She said, plucking her out of a sock drawer, "Tegiwa found the key."

"So that's what that 'boom' noise was." Himotomon bubbled, rather cheery despite her searching grounds. She looked up at Hanarei curiously. "Hanarei?"

"Yes?"

"Should we tell Shireika that her brother wears girl's underwear? Orange 'thawn' underwear?" Hanarei choked on the air she'd been inhaling, and looked down at the little fireball in her arms.

"Thong, Himotomon. I don't think Hanshin was the one wearing it, either. Hanshin, um..." Hanarei paused as she walked towards the kitchen, looking for the right word. She really didn't want to have this conversation. "He, uh, mates. Constantly. With females."

"Oh!" Himotomon cried, as if that solved everything, "So then that was someone else's underwear?"

"Yes, that was someone else's underwear. Now, that's enough; not a word to anyone." Hanarei said, unconsciously shaking her contaminated hand. She walked into the kitchen, and pointed at Shireika. "You owe me so, so much. Your brother's room is disgusting, and my hand has been permenantly violated." She put Himotomon on the counter and plunged her hand into Parumon's bathwater, sighing happily. Himotomon smiled at Shireika, giggling softly.

"Hanarei got some really funny, really really bright orange thong underwear stuck to her hand. She didn't like it."

Hanarei had the sudden urge to drown herself in the sink.

***

Asayake made her way to the kitchen from the living room, Rogishimon balanced on her shoulder. She caught the tail end of Himotomon's story about Hanarei and the mysterious thong panties. She shuddered on behalf of the other girl. "That's kinda gross."

"'Sayake," Rogishimon peeped, looking at the odd look on Hanarei's face, "What's a thong?"

"Butt-floss," Asayake said, nodding to her, "Underwear that gives you an irreversible wedgie whenever you wear it, because there's fabric constantly stuck up your ass."

"That doesn't sound very comfortable at all. Why would someone wear that?"

"I dunno. I'm biased, though, because I've never worn one. Apparently they're rather comfortable." Asayake shuddered, and tossed one of her pigtails behind her shoulder. "Okay. Now what, then?"

***

"Dad's going to freak, if he lost a drawer," Shireika murmured as she took the key fragment from Tegiwa. "After all, he probably did know that it was there. Unless Mom hid it there. Whatever the case may be, he won't be too pleased. And, Hanarei, there are far worse things than having to search through my brother's room, and far worse things than girls' underwear have appeared in that mess. We had to search all the rooms." She sighed as she stared at the key fragment briefly. "If Hanshin's group is after the last of the key fragments, don't you think we should be there to get it?" She pulled out her digivice. "Considering they are all in one place." She pointed at the screen at the cluster of dots. "If they weren't here looking for this one, they are certainly looking for a different one." She stood up. "Either they will challenge us, or we will challenge them. We're going to have to deal with it, but whatever happens, we're going to have to keep these fragments in our hands and get the other two. We might as well get it done tonight."

***

"Well, uh," Shouki mumbled. "Hey, where you going?" he asked when he saw Hanshin wander away from the group.

"Finding a way into that stupid display, since no one else is," Hanshin replied. He walked around a corner, finding another display. There had to be a way behind the one they were looking at. He meandered through the exhibit, attempting to find what might be the doorway into the display case.

[Hey. Figure out an escape route so we can get out of this place quickly once I get that key fragment. -Hanshin]

Hanshin rounded a corner, suddenly finding himself in an empty hallway. Apparently, it led to the bathroom, and there was also a door that said "Employees only." Damn security codes. He remembered he had seen one of the employees earlier near a similar door somewhere else. Three numbers, all different. Well, time to give it a go.

123. Nope. 124. No such luck. 125. This could be a very long night. 132. And boring as hell. 134. 135. Where was Naoko to find these things out already? 142. 143. 145. 152. Finally.

Hanshin hurried inside, finding an array of corridors, all of which were behind those exhibits in the Japanese history exhibit. He pulled out his digivice to help him navigate towards the one he wanted.

A couple run-ins with walls later, he believed he had found the door. He opened it, finding a display about geisha. Wrong one. This was so annoying, for a reason. Mayonaka Sensei didn't want that stupid key fragment to be found.

Trying another door, he saw Naoko, Shouki, Yuu and Enma on the other side of the glass.

***

It had seemed like hours that Hanshin had gone off to find a way into the display before he appeared on the other side of the glass. Finally. He pointed towards the shogun a few feet away from Hanshin.

Hanshin nodded from inside the display and quickly grabbed the key fragment laying near the shogun's feet. Before disappearing, he gave a thumbs up to the group.

"All right, we've got it," Shouki said, more to himself than anyone else. He looked over at Naoko. "So, now what?"

***

Hanshin stared at the empty corridors hidden behind the displays. So, now, how was he going to get out of here? All the corridors looked the same, and if there were other entrances, how was he going to find the one that would be closest to the others? Crap.

***

Naoko looked at the map on the digivice and pointed at it as she held the divice up to Shouki. “I’m going to stand by the nearest exit. Let ‘Anshin Anata know, please.” She went over to the nearest door and set her ring to the task of cracking the code.

***

“Shireika, The drawer is in perfect shape.” Tegiwa was in fact holding the drawer which hid the key fragment on its underside. “I made a hole in the desk though. Sorry. But, the key is ours. That’s half for us and half for them I bet. Now what?”

***

"Man, that sucks. Your dad's gonna freak when he sees his desk." Tomeo said as he looked at the drawer in Tegiwa's hands, then heard Shireika's decision.

"I was afraid you'ld say that..." Tomeo said hesitantly to Shireika, looking back at Hanarei and Asayake. "And as charming as it is to talk about orange butt floss, I'd have to agree. Let's just be glad we've found two fragments already and now we only need to fight to claim the other two. I mean, we might as well face the facts. They've probably realised by now like we have that both groups are looking for the last two fragments, so if we're going to have a battle for it, we may as well get it over and done with tonight. It would give us the advantage, rather than having them surprise us. I really hate the idea of fighting them again, but Shireika has a point. I dunno... it just means that I have to explain to my parents why it took two or three hours to deliver a friend notes for a test, which was my alibi for being here. But I guess I can sleep better, knowing the fragments are in safe hands."

"Ewww! Gross." Parumon said, focused on what had happened to Hanarei. "Humans can be so disgusting. No offense, but you guys should reformat into eggs like we do. Actually... forget I said that. It'd probably be worse, somehow." She looked at Hanarei. "Forget just tap water. You need to put that hand in hot water. With detergent. For, like, a week. Maybe a month in quarantine, just to be on the safe side."

"Can we focus here, please?" Tomeo asked patiently, digging into his pocket for the public transportation ticket he had purchased earlier that afternoon. "So, we'll all go to the, the uh..." He paused to look at the map on his digivice for reference of the place they were headed. "... museum, the same way we got here? It's a public building, so a station shouldn't be too far away."

***

"So far, so good..." Enma sighed, positioning her weight on the other leg as she waited for Hanshin. She had been standing there with the others for a long time. Naoko would help him find a way out, and then they were as good as out of there.

"Aww, and I wanted to see glass shatter, too!" Mitokomomon pouted after Hanshin and Naoko disappeared. "It would have been so cool, with the alarm going off, and the security guards coming out of nowhere... there's no action if Shireika's group ain't gonna show up."

"I think it's better that they didn't." Enma said. "A fight in here would destroy a lot of valuable stuff. We should plan a way out of here so we won't get lost on the way out." She looked around at the others. "Does anyone here have a map?"

***

Tegiwa set the drawer down on the counter. He regretted damaging the desk and doubted he could pay for it by the time he graduated. His mom and dad were likely to skin him when they found out; it’s not like they wouldn’t. So, he’d have three irate parental figures to deal with.

The key was worth the trouble though. He doubted that would sway them but it was what he felt.

“Tegiwa, What possessed you to blow up the desk. You wasted far too much energy in that little stunt.” Robotomon said. “You failed to think things through.”

“Aiya, little dude, I wasn’t trying to blow up the drawer. I was trying to warp the lock with the flame and something inside went Boom! Not much I could do except stand there looking dumb and singed. You think I like destroying other people’s things.”

“I’d say destruction was you kid’s raison d’etre. That’s what I say.”

“We are nothing but victims of circumstance. Really.”

“Circumstance must be on a roll. Hanarei-chan, use some Lysol on that hand. Whoever owned that garment had contact with the whole band, Naoko, and whoever else they might have touched. In other words, the half of Tokyo you wouldn’t want to touch. Including Tegiwa it seems.”

Tegiwa turned as red as his tan skin would allow. “My business, dude!”

“No secret Sherlock.”

***

Naoko waited for Hanshin by the door. “C’mon, Baby. You oneechan might call the cops on us. Haiyaku!”

***

"Baka-san," Shireika mumbled as she smacked Tegiwa in the arm. "I should really hit you in the head, too." She sighed. "As long as he can't see it, he won't notice it." She waved for Tegiwa to go put the drawer back. Then again, if her father found out that they had searched his desk, there could be many problems. Whatever, that should be the last thing on their mind. "Nah, public transport will take forever at this hour on a day like this. We'll take my father's car. He doesn't drive to work often, since parking is such a hassle. Besides, he knows I like to be able to have the car available on Saturdays, now that soccer season is over."

**

"Right," Shouki replied as he immediately began to write a message.

[Hanshin: Naoko's standing right by the nearest exit. She told me to tell you. -Shouki]

"So, let's figure out a way out of here," Kirimon said as he pushed Shouki along to get the boy walking.

"But, what about Hanshin and Naoko?" Shouki studdered.

"They'll find us. Now, let's find a way out, and we'll be done."

***

Hanshin looked at his digivice when he had received Shouki's message. Naoko wasn't that far away, from what he could tell. He felt his way through the dark corridors, one hand against a wall and the other holding onto the key fragment tightly. Then he hit a door handle, and as he checked the digivice, he heard the door unlock. He pushed the door open, finding Naoko waiting for him.

"You know, I could have opened this from inside," he grinned. "Unless you were hoping for something else inside there. It's a little dark." He winked as he closed the door behind him. "Now, let's get out of here." He checked his digivice again, seeing where Shouki, Enma and Yuu had gone to. He also spotted five other dots on the screen, right by where the three of them were headed. "Shit."

***

Shireika stood outside one of the employee exits to the museum. It was the one that wouldn't be alarmed at this hour when opened after hours, and as they headed over here, the blips were headed here.

"Come on," she murmured to herself. She shook the two key fragments in her hand as she waited.

"Somehow I knew you'd be here," Hanshin grumbled when he appeared through the door. "What, you want to fight for this one too? Look, we'll fight when they're all found. A deal's a deal!" He bolted down the stairs and ran up to Shireika.

"Right," Shireika replied as she showed Hanshin the two key fragments in her hand. She quickly pulled her hand away when Hanshin made a grab for them. "Trying to cheat, are we?"

"Come on! You don't understand! We need those key fragments. We need that key so we can -"

"- stop that damn queen. And you're being stupid."

"Fine. I'll get those fragments from you." He pulled off his bag and let Koumamon out.

"Like we said last time, we'll fight for them. Winner takes all. This one settles it for good. Got it?"

"You're so asking for it!" Alatusmon exclaimed as he hopped in front of Shireika. He looked up at his partner. "Let's take him."

"We got it," Shireika replied as she unclipped her digivice. The Idiot Boy was going to lose. There was no way the Fates would have wanted the key in anyone's hands.

"Then, let's get this thing going," Hanshin said as he stood up. He'd show her. Shireika was attempting to stop destiny. With a dark queen coming, the Fates would want them to find those fragments, and since they believed the prophecy, destiny would be on their side.

"Alatusmon digivolve to Alesmon! Alesmon digivolve to Ravenmon!"

"Koumamon digivolve Shunbamon! Shunbamon digivolve to Taneumamon!"

"Let's take this," Shireika and Hanshin both said as they turned back to look at those who they considered their friends and allies.

"Shadow Assault!" Ravenmon called as a shadowy bird emerged from the pavement near Taneumamon. "Take that!"

"Stallion's Revenge!" the white stallion replied. His hooves pierced through the shadowy bird, causing it to disappear. "What was that supposed to be?" he asked as a wind picked up around Shireika's group.

***

Tomeo could feel his heart pounding as his group came face to face with Hanshin's, feeling a bit nervous. Everything rode on this battle and if they screwed up, everything they had fought for would all be for nothing. "Parumon, you know the drill." the black-haired boy said, holding his arms out so that Parumon could drop down to the ground.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Parumon acknowledged, as Tomeo brought out his digivice, a light enveloping around her form. "Parumon digivolve to... Takamon! Takamon digivolve to... Leviamon!" The deep sea dragon roared as she floated majestically above the group, watching the wind of Taneumamon's Stallion's Revenge attack coming for the group.

"Aqua Sphere!" she shouted, casting a shield of water around the group. Everyone in the group became immediately soaked at once, but Leviamon had made the water breathable, and they were safe from the attack. She let the sphere down quickly once it had subsided, and floated towards the other group, coming between them and Tomeo. "So, who's feeling lucky tonight?"

"Just be careful not to break anything, Leviamon..." Tomeo gasped for crisp air, shaking the water off his arms. If any part of the building was damaged, their little tumble was going to make them responsible.

***

Enma looked up as Leviamon came towards the group, and bit her lip. She didn't know how Mitokomomon could stand up against a dragon, but she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Let's do this, Mitokomomon." the girl called for her partner, holding up her digivice.

"I've been waiting for this! Mitokomomon digivolve to... Aoiromon!" The gloved and booted Rookie appeared in a flash of light in Mitokomomon's place. "Bilge Rat Bomber!" he cried, shooting energy spheres up at the water dragon. The spheres dissolved on Leviamon's scaly hide, making the Champion blink and shake her head. "You aren't serious, are you? You're an irritation, more than a threat. Go fight someone at your own level." she told him, looking at him seriously for a moment, then looked around for a more worthy opponent.

"I'll show you! I'll digivolve again! Just you wait, bait-breath..." Aoiromon answered back in frustration, wondering who he should fight next.

Enma looked across at Hanarei, who she knew must have been itching to fight her. She stepped across to give her a cocky glance, and a smirk pulled at the edge of her lips. "So Hanarei, want another piece of this? Or did I teach you a lesson, the last time we met? We're getting those fragments from you, one way or the other."

***

"Himotomon, let's get into this action." Hanarei pulled out her digivice, and looked down at the little flame bobbing up and down on the ground. She immediately clamped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

Himotomon was staring terror-struck at Leviamon. Being a fire type, even if she wasn't hot enough to prove it, meant that being momentarily submerged in water had done more than frighten the poor thing, it had stunned her to the point of hyperventalation. "WATCH IT WITH THE WATER, PLEASE!" She shouted, thoroughly shaken and rather upset at being watered down.

"Himotomon, I need you to digivolve. You up to it?"

"Sure, sure," Himotomon said taking a calming breath, "Okay! Himotomon, digivolve to... Okimon!"

Okimon, with her enegry running high from being slightly annoyed with Leviamon's little water trick, immediately focused her anger on the nearest rival target; Aoiromon. "Hey, you prize alley reject, kiss my ash! Warm Kiss!" Okimon gave Aoiromon a little wink before taking a big breath, and sending the little fire in her hands into a gigantic roaring frenzy aimed right at the almost-bear's face.

Hanarei's eyes flased over to Enma as soon as she heard the girl's voice, and she was immediately on edge. She felt a good majority of the little hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention as she snarled at her. "You just got real, real lucky last time, honey," She growled, clenching and unclenching her fists, "Believe me, you won't get another chance like that again!" Without thinking much about what she was doing, Hanarei charged full-on at Enma, pulling her fist back and throwing a rather solid left hook at the girl's jaw.

***

Asayake gave Rogishimon an expectant look, to which the little bird rolled her eyes. "I was enjoying my ride, you know!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed the fact that you used my shoulder as public transit. Now, however, we've got a bit of a battle on our hands, and I'd be rather grateful if you hopped to it!" Asayake said, mocking severity, as she plucked the little white bird from her shoulder, "Now, HOP TO IT!"

"Yessir!" Rogishimon peeped, flying off towards where most of the action seemed to be coming from, "Rogishimon, digivilve to... Soranomon!"

"Okay, assmunches!" Soranomon bellowed, a slight screech behind her voice, "Who wants a taste of the Eagle Express?!"

"Oh, great," Asayake mumbled, loud enough for only herself to hear, "Soranomon's an egotist."

"Lucky dip it is, then!" Soranomon shouted, wheeling on the first digimon to cross her path. She stared down at Suzumon, and chuckled cockily. "Hey, Metalhead! You still got some metallic balls I can kick, or did your digidestened already neuter you?"

***

Tegiwa scanned the shadows. He had expected the Watcher to appear and demand the key the minute the fragments were together, but there was no sign of him yet. Maybe, he needed the Chosen children to assemble the key or even use it as he claimed. Tegiwa figured there might be some truths in his lies.

"I can't believe you people. 'Winner takes all grudge match' for the key? I'm sorry. It's not for the key but for the world, worlds, universe, whatever you call it!" His voice broke a few times as he started yelling. "What is this you people? West side story? No, this isn't a game. It's a WAR! If you want games you Ziggy Stardust Wannabe let's play for keeps. I call it: Hanshin spends the next six months breathing through a straw if he doesn't give up right now!" Serious shit. Serious serious shit.

"Golemon! That's Hanshin over there. Go after him. Pound him. Do anything to him except kill him. The others too. And, don't mind the scenery too much or our side. Protect the bits of the key from being united. I cannot afford to let anyone have them."

A rumbling sound and great shaking of the ground foretold the metal giant's charge from his spot behind Tegiwa. He moved like a an armoured linebacker as the gears in his arm and pistons in his legs sent his bulk barreling toward Shireika's blond headed twin with an odd grace. "Yeaarrgh!" The monster was both ballerina and frieghttrain.

"What the hell are you doing! Baka!" Naoko rushed in front of the juggernaut in order to shield Hanshin. The automatic man did not seem to notice or care she was in his path. "Digimon don't fight humans."

In a flash suzumon was tetsumon , and he was barreling full force toward the metal giant. Sparks flew as his jaws clamped onto the giants right arm and his momentum struck above the things center of gravity as his forepaws smashed into it's chest. The hellhound's feet left claw marks in the nicely polished tile floor.

After sliding several feet toward Naoko the automaton was forced to stop. She was staring up into the dead eyes of Tegiwa's monster. "I won't let you hurt people just because you disagree with him you yellow haired geek. I won't let anyone hurt Hanshin. Never!"

"Out of my way little one. Play fetch." He swung his torso a bit more to the right and swatted Naoko away with his massive left hand. Naoko sailed through the air and smacked into the safety glass of a display face first. A red smudge from a trail on the glass as she slid to the ground in a heap.

One of Tetsumon's head's looked back toward his fallen partner with saddeness filling his eyes with tears. "Fire jet!" All three mouths erupted in blue white fire while they were clamped on Golemon's arm. The giant tried vigorously to shake the dog off, but couldn't.

A single baleful eye of the dog remained fixed on Sonaremon as if to answer: "This should be proof enough"

***

"What the hell was that for?" Hanshin demanded as he rushed to Naoko's side. He looked over at Tegiwa. "What the fuck is your problem?" He sat her up and looked over at his childhood friend. He immediately rushed over and grabbed the boy by the collar.

"What are you trying to do? Kill me? You guys are the ones who started this whole mess. We're just trying to get that key, and for all I know, it's harmless in itself. You guys are the ones spending all the time trying to keep us away from that key." He punched Tegiwa in the stomach quickly. "So, there." He pointed over at Shireika. "And she's the one who started all of this in the first place. She's the one who's trying to prove that I'm wrong all the time, so she's off on some tirade to keep the key out of my hands because she can't stand me." He looked over at Shireika angrily as he let Tegiwa go.

"Yeah, you know what I talking about. You know, I don't understand why this key means so much to you."

"It's dangerous," Shireika replied. "It is connected to the powers of an -"

"- evil entity. Bunch of bullcrap if I've ever heard it."

"Bullcrap? You're the one who fell into this trap, believing that going after this key is a good idea. Think, dammit. This key was fragmented for a reason, to keep psycho, power-hungry people away from it!"

"But, you're pretty goddamn determined to keep me away from those key fragments."

"Well, I'm frankly afraid to find out what would happen if you actually put those fragments back together."

"Oh, so I'm psycho now? Shireika, it's just a key! It has no use if you don't know where the lock is!"

"But, the Watcher will tell you."

"Just, shut the fuck up," Hanshin hissed as slapped Shireika. "I'm sick of you. I'm sick of you always trying to prove something. Why can't you just tell the simple truth?" He slammed her against the nearest car and hissed into her ear. "Come on. Just admit it. You've got some other motive besides protecting the universe."

"Why the hell would I have any other reason to stop you?" Shireika retorted.

Hanshin tightened his grip on his sister.

"Because you're a little too determined to stop us, specifically me."

"This has nothing to do with us!"

***

Ravenmon glared back at Taneumamon.

"Yeah, but I've got some tricks up my sleeve," Ravenmon replied as he took to the air. He immediately swooped down towards the white stallion and shoved his feet into the horse, pushing the other digimon over. "Oh, did horsey trip?"

Taneumamon grumbled something softly as he got himself back up. That bird was annoying as hell, even more than his bitch of a human partner. As Ravenmon lowered a little, the wind picked up again.

"I'm going to send you flying," Taneumamon muttered as the wind built up around them. "Calvary of Euros!" From around him, the wind took the shape of a stampede of stallions and headed straight for Ravenmon. The large black bird was sent backwards through the air until he collided with the pavement.

***

Shouki let out a small scream at the sight of seeing Naoko fly through the air and slam into a wall. Kirimon hissing like a cat as he floated in mid-air, watching the battle. His yellow eyes glared at battles already under way. "Shouki," he said, "we have to stop them. They're already causing enough pain for our side." Kirimon turned to see Shouki's face only to realize the boy was in shock.

Shouki couldn't believe that a digimon would attack a human like that. There was no way a human alone to stand up to a digimon like that. Naoko was thrown aside like she was a rag-doll.

Kirimon now turned completely around and was staring at his partner. "Snap out of it. We have to hurry." Shouki was still staring, his prayer beads running through his fingers quickly. "Wake up!"

A surge of emotions was building up in Shouki. He wanted to do something and that feeling was increasing with every passing second. It finally came out. "STOP IT!! STOP CAUSING MORE PAIN!!" The digivice began to glow.

"Kirimon digivolved to... Reimumon digivolved to... Kaishimon!" The ghost cat stood ready for orders as he bared his dull gray fangs.

"Kaishimon, do something to stop them! Anything you can think of," Shouki ordered. "Just try not to hurt them."

"I'll try," Kaishimon responded. 'Sorry Shouki, but I can only try not to hurt them too much,' he said to himself. He looked around at the other digimon and spotted Soranomon. She wasn't busy with another digimon but she seemed to have her eye on Tetsumon. "May as well keep you from piling up on one digimon. Black Plague!" The glop of black ooze flowed out of his mouth, heading for Soranomon.

***

Aoiromon glared at Leviamon before Okimon's attack hit him. "That's not fair!" he yelled. "Copy Rat!" he said, sending the attack back at Okimon, before watching all the other digimon. Besides Okimon, he was the only rookie of the bunch.

He felt something surge through him, and looked over where Enma was. Her digivice was glowing. He looked down at himself, and saw that he was glowing, too. "Aoiromon digivolve to...Shinzuimon!"

Although still about the same size, there was a definate change in the champion digimon's appearance. He turned away from Okimon and glared at where Leviamon had went.

"Rat Poison!" A whip of energy appeared in Shinzuimon's hands, and he started to play with it, before sending it towards Leviamon.

***

Enma was smart enough to move out of the way so that Hanarei didn't hit her jaw, but the other girl still managed to hit her shoulder. She let out a small grunt of pain, and moved her shoulder. She heard something pop, and winced. "I see you're still a tad mad at me for the punch in the gut, huh?" she asked, the faux-sweetness of her voice tinged with pain. "You know," she said, surprising herself with how calm she sounded, "you and I are that different. That's why I really hate all this fighting between us." she said, poker-faced.

"However, you could have possibly damaged my left arm, and I can't feel my hand. If I can't feel my hand, that means I may not be able to write, and, since I'm not ambidextrous, I've found myself in a bit of a situation, and it happens to be mostly your fault, so I don't think I can forgive that." she looked down to notice that her digivice was glowing, but looked up again, ignoring it.

She leveled her gaze with Hanarei, smirking. "I'm sure you understand it's nothing personal, I just can't stand you." And with that, she aimed a swing at Hanarei with her right arm. She knew she wasn't as strong in her right hand as she was in her dominant arm, but she had to retaliate somehow.

***

"Naoko-san!!" Yuu ran as fast as she could to the girl's side, while the just-digivolved Kamomemon followed close behind to make sure that metal giant didn't come back for a second swing. "Naoko-san, are you alright?" Hanshin had sat her up, but Yuu couldn't tell right away if she was conscious or not. However, she was definitely bleeding. Quickly pulling off her own jacket, she pressed a sleeve gently against the wound. "Naoko-san..." How could they do this? Fighting for the key was one thing, but this... this just wasn't right. This was going to far. Naoko could have been killed. Nothing was worth that. Nothing.

Yuu looked back towards the battle with an expression Kamo had never seen before. There was a fierceness behinds her eyes. Suddenly her digivice began to glow, and Kamo felt a new power surging through him.

"Kamomemon digivolve to... Tsurumon!" In the smaller bird's place was a huge white and black crane, distinguished by the large flying fish fins in place of its wings and a flowing fish-like tail. Turning his long neck, he and Yuu exchanged a meaningful glance before he took off gracefully and glided towards Golemon. As he flew, the long, dragon-like whiskers emerging from his beak began to glow blue-green.

"Harass someone your own size" he said coolly as he prepared to fire at Golemon.

***

Tomeo looked on, shocked, at what had just happened. Naoko was hurt, and as much as he had come to despise her, he didn't want to see her killed. He didn't want to see anyone killed, for that matter, that's the reason he was here to fight for the fragments.

With Naoko being tended to, he looked at Tegiwa for a moment in shock. He had never seen this side of him before. He thought he had known him better, but obviously not.

"Tegiwa!" he shouted angrily. "What the hell has gotten into you!? I don't like Hanshin and Naoko at the moment, but I don't want to kill them! We're fighting to stop the very thing you ordered Golemon to do - this isn't a war, this is an official battle to decide who takes the fragments. It's important, but you're making the wrong decision. How much is it worth taking lives, when you don't need to? Let the digimon fight, it's in their blood. It's unfair for a digimon to attack a human, and you know it. I'll have Leviamon fight Golemon myself to stop you, if I have to." He felt hurt. He couldn't believe Tegiwa had ordered Golemon to ignore anything that got in his way, including members from their group. What had gotten into him?

Leviamon looked for a target, spotting Soranomon being unfairly attacked by Kaishimon. She was about to assist her when Shinzuimon's Rat Poison attack whipped her upside the head and caught her off guard, turning her attention back on rat/teddy bear hybrid. "Arrrrgggghhhh! You just had to be a pest and show me up, didn't you? Fine. You messed with the wrong Champion, pipsqueak." She composed herself into water, her spear-tail remaining physically solid. "Deep Tsunami!" she roared, crashing down on top of Shinzuimon in an attempt to strike her with her spear-tail.

***

"Nothing?" Hanshin demanded as his hand locked around Shireika's throat. "Stop lying to me, to everyone! You're hiding something, and I just know it."

"Hanshin, stop," Shireika whispered.

"Well, what is it?" Hanshin asked as he slammed Shireika against the car again. "I don't get why you are so damn determined to stop me - to stop everyone from that key. It's just a key; it itself means nothing! You just want to stop me, like you always do. Like you always have! Because you think you're better than me. Because you think I'll just mess up. Because you think I'm up to no good! So, you come in here and stop us. You get the others to attack those who believe me, who believe the Watcher. What the hell? And Tegiwa here nearly kills Naoko!"

"Hanshin, stop this!"

"I know you better than anyone else. I know when you're hiding something. I know when you're keeping secrets. What is it that you're trying to do here?"

"Trying to keep you from making a big mistake."

"Quit playing innocent!"

"You're the one who wants to use a power than was never meant to be used again."

"Just shut up. Shut up."

"You're the one who wants some sort of fame -"

"I told you to shut up!" He reclamped a hand around Shireika's neck and held one over Shireika's mouth. "I am trying to stop a queen who threatens this world and possibly this universe, but you won't believe me. You never believe me."

***

Ravenmon rolled over on the pavement and looked up to see Taneumamon starting down at him.

"You're mine," Taneumamon growled.

Ravenmon looked over towards Shireika and Hanshin, seeing his partner in distress. He was hurting her; he could feel it within him. He could feel her fear. He wasn't sure what she was exactly scared of. He always had thought she never had been scared of her brother, but that didn't matter. She was frightened, and somebody had to stop Hanshin.

"Stallion's Revenge!" Taneumamon shouted as he began to bring his front hooves down on Ravenmon, but the bird had manuevered out of the way. The large bird's wing knocked the white stallion away.

***

Shinzuimon watched the attack coming at him. "This is about the time I wish I still had some of my rookie attacks." He said to himself. Leviamon was coming at him fast, and he didn't know what to do.

He turned towards Enma, and saw his partner throwing a punch with her right hand. His eyes widened when he remembered she didn't normally use her right arm much at all. "Well...if Enma can fight when she's lost the upper hand...so can I." He said, nodding to himself, though he didn't believe himself.

He held up a hand as he closed his eyes, and started to concentrate. "Temple Dust!" He said, throwing the attack at Leviamon.

***

Tegiwa wasn’t in the mood for any more of Hanshin’s beatings. He grabbed Hanishin’s arm and sidestepped the gut punch while letting Hanshin pass by him. He planted his foot on his backside to keep him headed toward Shireika. Hopefully, she could handle him for a bit.

He had been shocked when Naoko became Golemon handball, but now was not the time to waver. This matter was bigger than any of them. “Hanshin, you are the cause of this. If I didn’t think you were too conceited to scheme, I’d swear you were the Watcher. You and Shireika had all that access to the Prophecy Library of you uncle’s. You could have sent those emails after learning of the key. The Watcher seems to know a bit too much about us than someone watching. I figure he’s so close he could be one of us.

“As for the key….it is a harmless object once assembled, but so is a nuclear bomb until it goes off. That’s assuming the key needs a lock. It could just be a catalyst of sorts. I don’t care at this point because it’s more of a risk to the world to have that key come together than it is to see what happens afterward. No one needs that key. No human. Ever. If I have to hurt you guys to save the world then I’ll do it. I don’t lie it, but what choice do I have? This fight isn’t about you and me or Shireika and you, Hanshin! Our problems don’t matter a hill of beans in a world like this. It’s nothing personal, but I have to stop you! Forgive me!

“Golemon! Get Hanshin! Tomeo, do what you feel is right. I don’t hate any of us, but the key is too dangerous.”

Golemon shook his arm but Tetsumon would not release him, but he had other options. He managed to get the dog between him and the blast from Tsurumon just long enough to make him drop off; however, energy from the blast flowed into Golemon causing arcs of energy to flow over his body.

He turned toward Hanshin again although he was noticeably slower. He raised both his great fists to form a mighty hammer as he approached Hanshin and his captive, Shireika.

“We have to get rid of the keys. We have to!” Tegiwa stared at the ground as the metal monster moved in on his friends.

***

Naoko slowly tried to sit up and thought better of it. Her head was swimming. Blood still issued forth from her mouth and nose. She couldn’t feel one side of her face except for a hot prickly pain that came along. The wall was nice and cool against her back, but she felt as if she might throw-up at any second. She tried to shake that feeling. Her vision was blurred and jumpy and time seemed to move too fast or too slow.

Someone, she wasn’t sure who, was tending to the flow of blood streaming down her face. She tried to smile but found she could only manage a lopsided grin. The right side of her face was swollen and purple already. “Heh, thanks. But, not tonight dear, I think I have a headache.”

***

Okimon smirked as the flame reached Aoiromon. The smirk vanished just as quickly when the flame was heading back toward her. It was speeding toward her but Okimon was unable to move. Because of Hanarei's strong emotions, Okimon could feel energy flow through herself as well. As the flames surrounded her, Okimon knew what to do. "Okimon digivolved to... Hisennyumon!" The flames quickly evaporated around her and, instead of a small child-like digimon, there was an even smaller fire fairy floating in mid-air. She was about the size of Hanarei's head. Her hair and wings were made entirely out of fire and her skirt and top both looked scorched. "I've been waiting a long time to get to this form," she happily shouted.

Hanarei could tell she had hurt Enma to her own advantage. 'So if I have to fight you again,' Hanarei thought, 'I should aim for you left arm.' She saw the attack coming from Enma but at the same time saw Hisennyumon appear. Unable to help herself, Hanarei's body stopped as she stared at her digimon. The punch hit Hanarei's right cheek but there was no reaction. She took one step back after the hit and faced the ground, her eyes looking blank.

More images were running through her mind, becoming clearer by the second. Pieces to different puzzles were put together, voices could be heard with more words and sentences being audible. Again, there was the feeling that something from within was trying to claw its way out of Hanarei. But this time, Hanarei wasn't able to stop it as successful as the last time this happened. A small part of it emerged in her and it showed itself in her face.

It seemed like the images floating through her mind took forever to finish but for everyone else it took less than a second. Hanarei quickly tilted her head back to face Enma. This time, her face looked as though it were possessed with it's yellow eyes and evil grin. Some of the hair hung in front of her face added to the affect. "You must have one of the dirtiest homes in all of Tokyo," she growled, "because that punch wouldn't be able to squash a fly." With that, Hanarei jumped onto Enma and tackled her to the ground. If one hand, Hanarei held her down on her right side. With her other hand, she placed her fingers together to form a point. The same idea was repeating in her mind; cause as much ever-lasting pain as possible.

"I like to play by the rules 'eye for and eye,'" said Hanarei. "However, when I ask for an eye, I want it paid in full with interest." She thrust her hand downward, the fingernails on Hanarei's hand resembling a needle.

***

Oblivious to what was going on with her partner, Hisennyumon was flying around, looking for another target to attack since her previous target was no elsewhere. Spotting Tsurumon, Hisennyumon made her choice. She flew over to the bird/fish mix, and hovered in mid-air. "I wonder what you taste like when cooked, chicken or tuna?" she said.

She placed her hands together and, like her previous form, a small fireball appeared in her palms. Despite the huge size difference, Hisennyumon didn't look the least bit afraid. "Blaze Blast!" she shouted. The little fireball suddenly grew to 10 feet in diameter and was launched from Hisennyumon's hands, zooming toward Tsurumon.

***

Shouki just wanted all of this to end. He knew he shouldn't think this way, but by ending this battle, everyone's pain would finally stop. They wouldn't have to fight over the keys. Hanshin and Shireika said they promised each other this would decide who kept the keys and they made it sound final.

Shouki watched Kaishimon intently. The only thing that drew his attention away from the cat-ghost was the sound of Golemon making another dash this time at Hanshin. "Not this time," said Shouki. He wasn't that fast, but it appear as though Golemon wasn't either. Shouki made it just in time and stood between Hanshin, Shireik, and Golemon. Arms streched out, he attempted to stand his ground. "Please, stop all of this. Stop trying to hurt other people!" he shouted. He closed his eyes and turned his head slightly as he waited for what would come next.

***

"I'm the Watcher?" Hanshin asked. "What kind of bullcrap are you making up now Tegiwa?" He turned around, pulling Shireika in front of him and holding her in a headlock. Golemon wouldn't attack both of them because Tegiwa wouldn't dare let anyone lay a harmful hand on Shireika. "So, I might have had access to our Uncle Matsuro's library, but so did your little leader here too. If the Watcher is one of us, she's just as likely as me then." He was thankful that Shouki had stepped in between in an effort to stop Golemon. "Think about it, Tegiwa. If you're accusing me of being the Watcher, maybe you should also consider my sister."

"Shut up, you idiot," Shireika shouted as she tried to free herself. "Like I would be the Watcher!"

"Why wouldn't you be? The Watcher seems to know everything. You're hiding something from everyone, and I just know it. Don't deny that. I know that look in your eyes when you're planning something, when you're keeping something to yourself. Always when you seem to daze off into your own little world."

"Let go of me!"

***

"Stupid bird!" Taneumamon hissed when Ravenmon knocked him to the ground.

"Shireika, I'm coming!" Ravenmon called as he zoomed towards Shireika and Hanshin. That stupid twin brother of hers was going to leave her alone. He had to help her. He had to protect her. That was his job, and he couldn't fail her. That would be a failure to the Fates, a failure to himself. But, he couldn't do anything like this. He wasn't strong enough in this form. They needed each other to be strong.

In a flash of light, Ravenmon's body seemed to dissolve into a stream of intense light.

***

From the corner of her eye, Shireika could see a brilliant flash of light heading straight towards them.

"What the hell?" Hanshin asked, but there was no escaping the incoming light. He thought it might be an attack from another digimon, so he threw Shireika towards it. Maybe that might get her to shut up about this whole key business.

"Shireika!" Ravenmon's voice called towards Shireika as the beam of light engulfed his partner.

"Biomerge digivolution!" Shireika commanded, but she didn't know how she knew those words. They just sort of came out of her mouth, and when the light faded from sight, neither Shireika nor Ravenmon was left. Something inbetween though. A digimon but also human. She was seven feet tall. She had black bird legs underneath a knee-length skirt of dark gray feathers. Her upper body was covered by a tight black garment, and from her back, two large black wings had grown. A helmet covered her face, cutting off just above her mouth, and her long black hair was in two long braids and decorated with feathers.

"Divinamon," she spoke. Her voice sounded like a mix between that of Shireika's and Ravenmon's, each of their voices distinctly heard but not separate.

"Holy crap!" Hanshin exclaimed when he saw the new digimon. Was it even a digimon? Was it human too? He could hear Shireika's voice, so she had to be around somewhere. This was bad, especially with Golemon ready to beat him to a pulp.

"Hanshin!" Taneumamon called as he also headed for his human partner.

"Biomerge digivolution!" Hanshin found himself calling when Taneumamon transformed into rays of light. What the hell was going on?

And, when all was said and done, a nine-foot-tall white centaur was left behind. He had the body of a white stallion, like Taneumamon, and his torso was that of a muscular young man. He was well-tanned and wore nothing but two bronze arm coverings and a bronze helmet, resembling that of a Spartan's headwear. Shoulder length white hair popped out from under the bronze helmet, and in his hands, he held a bronze shield and spear.

"Centaurmon," the new digimon-human uttered.

"Get out of the way," Divinamon commanded to Shouki as she pushed him aside. Things were going to get ugly by the look of it.

"So, winner takes all, right?" Centaurmon asked as he thrusted his spear towards Divinamon. "Right, sister?" He glanced up towards Golemon. He could take down the big hulking digimon now, and that would leave fewer backup for Divinamon when it came down to just her. "Sagittarian Curse!" he commanded as he jumped to his hind legs. He pointed his spear towards Golemon as energy began to collect at the spear's point, and in a moment, the light burst towards Golemon.

***

Tomeo didn't know what was going on. There were so many things happening and so many of the other digidestined in danger, he didn't know where to begin. He was just about to ask Leviamon to stop fighting Shinzuimon so he could help out Shireika, but she was gone. Where did she and Hanshin go? In their place stood two new digimon, and he wasn't sure of what had happened. He concentrated on the potential dangers amongst the fight, telling himself to worry about it later. He couldn't allow a distracted thought from saving someone who could need his help.

Golemon was busy with Centaurmon, he wasn't about to hurt anyone else anytime soon, so he wasn't worried about him for the moment. Divinamon had pushed Shouki out of harm's way; it looked like the battle between the two powerful digimon was going to get fierce. He spotted Hanarei and Enma brawling nearby, and although he would have normally let the two fight, if they didn't move they would be caught in the crossfire.

Tomeo dashed over behind Hanarei, suddenly grabbing her from behind from underneath her arms and tried to pin her arms back from scratching Enma with her nails. "Hanarei, you have to stop!" he tried to reason as he pulled her backwards, presuming she'd be more than angry with him with his interruption. "Don't hurt Enma. We have to get out of the way or we'll be killed!" He glanced down at Enma as he struggled holding Hanarei. "I'm sorry, I'd help you up, but I'm a little busy right now. Please Enma, I suggest you move, or you could get yourself seriously hurt!" he pleaded, hoping one of the girls could let go of their hatred and see the reason in his words.

***

Leviamon continued her Deep Tsunami attack against Shinzuimon, buffeted only slightly by the Temple Dust attack. Not having any eyes to speak of, the sand simply became caught up in the water as Leviamon came rushing forward. The wave of water came gushing down and heavily doused the little rodent, but the spear-tail following after it missed its mark and buried itself into the ground. Leviamon reformed herself into her physical body, pulling her tail out of the ground a little in frustration.

"Hah! You're trying to stop my water attack with sand?" she mocked Shinzuimon, whipping her deadly tail over her head. "Water and sand go together like bread and peanut butter. I thought you’d know that, but I guess you're more stupider than I gave you credit for." She didn't admit to him the wind blowing the sandstorm had blown back the spear-head, causing her to lose her accuracy with it. Her special technique not working for now, she opted for a different approach. "Let's see how you do as a drowning rat! Aqua Sphere!" she roared. Approaching Shinzuimon, she conjured a sphere of water to surround the both of them, hoping to weaken Shinzuimon in the globe of water by putting him off balance and bringing him into her home element.

***

Kaishimon's attack came too quickly for Soranomon to dodge completely; she had no more than beat her wings, attempting to get up and over the blob of black goo, by the time it made contact with her legs. The large white bird gave a pained squawk as it burned, flying irratically and trying to shake the acid from her limbs. She knocked into a rather tall display case, cracking the glass. Even as she struggled to stay in the air she felt her wings start to give way. She gave them a final beat before falling towards the ground, having almost completely tired herself out from trying to shake the acid from her scaly skin

"Soranomon!" Asayake shouted, running towards the bird as she began to fall, "Soranomon, stay up! Stay up! SORANOMON!" A bright orange light exploded from her back pocket, stopping Asayake in her tracks as it grew brighter. She looked frantically towards Soranomon, who had begun to glow as well.

"Soranomon, digivolve to... Shogaimon!"

The hybrid digimon landed with a large thud on the ground, large-taloned falcon's feet planted firmly on the floor of the museum. She pulled herself up to her full height, letting the enormous dragon katana on her shoulder fall to the ground as she did so. The blade smashed through the tile floor when it made contact. Fixing Kaishimon with a searing glare, Shogaimon gave her wings a stretch, attempting to look formidable, and lifted the heavy katana from the floor to point it at the ghost-cat. At six feet she was the smaller of the two, but she'd be damned if that would be a disadvantage. "You will pay dearly for that, make no mistake. Burdened Revelation!" As the blade began to hum in her hands, Shogaimon flew into the air towards Kaishimon, giving the blade a mighty swing. If the attack hit, it surely wouldn't tickle.

Asayake simply stared as Shogaimon attacked Kaishimon. The only thing she found she could say was, "Well, you're definately not sitting on my shoulder in THAT form."

***

Tegiwa decided that this situation was definitely…different. At least it settled the whining about humans and digimon fighting since the humans were now technically digimon. “Really now, Golemon, just get the keys from them then. Or, at least, keep them on the ropes so none can combine them into the key. If you hurt us, it’s okay, but not mandatory.”

Golemon lumbered toward Centaurmon with a slow ground shaking stride, but caught the brunt of Centaur’s Curse for his trouble. The light blew the dull monolith backward and flat on his back where he reverted to Robotmon.

“Hanshin! Just quit! Just….give up. I can’t let you win. I know too much is at stake. If you really mean to be helping people then you will be moderate in you actions.

Otherwise, you just average limelighter looking for fame and glory. Ahhh! Never mind! I never believed you had a honest motive. Robotmon! I’m giving you a hand.”

Purple light shot from Tegiwa’s digivice and engulfed both boy and partner. When it had faded a golden giant stood in their place. Tikutokumon removed several gears--like great saw blades-- from his forearm. “Time’s Teeth!” His arms whirled in a blur as 6 of the gears were launched at Centuarmon.

***

“….really, I don’t mind it that way. It’s fine.... If I didn’t like it I’d tell you…I can tell you’ve done this before…No it’s not strange….So many people do it…Who says girls can’t have fun…We don’t need the whipped cream….You! acting so shy….You do that like a pro…” Naoko could not stop the delusional things coming out of her mouth. The mark on her face was reddish now and turning purple.

Tetsumon had fallen to the ground when Golemon had turned to Tikutokumon. He glare at the newcomer. “I believe we were fighting you tin can.” He doubted if his attack could phase a Biomerge level digimon. All he could do was face the challenge head on and hope for the best.

***

"Bad dog," Divinamon hissed. "He's busy, and you've been a bad dog." She seemed to grin and chuckled with the likeness of Alatusmon. "So, be good and scram." She crossed her arms as her wings enclosed around her. As her wings and arms unfolded, thousands of tiny shadow birds emerged and flew towards Tetsumon. "Shadow Spawning!" The little birds squawked and shreiked as they engulfed the dog and proceeded on towards other potential targets.

***

Centaurmon held up his shield when Tikutokumon attacked him. Four gears were sent flying elsewhere and two hit the centaur, one in the shoulder and another in the body.

"Average limelighter?" he asked when the attacked finished. "You're just like my sister, but then again. What should I expect from people like you? You all think you're just better because you do what everyone wants of you." He glanced around, seeing Naoko injured badly. "I'd swear you didn't have an honest motive, or you wouldn't actually hurt others like that." With his spear, he pointed towards the mildly delerious Naoko. "Well, I guess we're just going to have to help each other, huh?" He repositioned himself between Naoko and Tikutokumon and pointed his spear up in the air. "Spirit of Chiron!" The call pulled Tikutokumon towards Centaurmon as energy was sucked from the gigantic robot digimon. The energy then flew from Centaurmon's spear to Naoko to tend to her injuries, focusing on the bruise on her face.

***

Yuu tried her best to ignore Naoko's apparently delusional comments while she cleaned up her wound. After all, she had taken a pretty hard hit. In the meantime, she took a quick look around the battlefield. All of the digimon were beyond their Rookie forms now, and it looked like a few of them had evolved to an even higher level. It occurred to her to wonder where exactly Hanshin and Shireika had gone to, but the key thing right now was to get Naoko out of the line of fire.

"Naoko-san, listen" she said very clearly during a break in the commentary. "It's me, Yuu. We're at the museum. Our digimon are fighting for the fragments. You need to come back to right here, right now, our you might get hurt again. Now, do you think you can stand?" She slid an arm under Naoko's shoulder for support.

***

Tsurumon was blasted back by the fairy's fireball, the scorch marks adding a few more black streaks to his white feathers. He recovered himself and narrowed his eyes indignantly at her. "I think you need a time-out" he cooed. "Dream's End!" He focused on Hisenyuumon and let out a long, haunting cry, intent on enchanting and paralyzing her. Almost immediately afterward he began powering up for his Energy Flow attack, but he hadn't accounted for the fact that he'd only just used it, and the power-up was taking much longer than the last time.

***

Okimon did several backflips in mid-air while laughing at Tsurumon. "Hahaha, I haven't had this much fun in ages," she said in between giggles. "Now to make you go from well done to extra crispy." She started to form another fireball in her hand but say Tsurumon make her own attack first. Hisennyumon heard the cry from her opponent and the fairy's body suddenly went rigid. "Hey, what gives?" she shouted in surprise. Because of her small size, she figured she could avoid most attacks. However, Tsurumon's was more sound based thus a wide range attack, making it harder for Hisennyumon to avoid it.

For some odd reason, Hisennyumon was still in mid-air but couldn't move her body. "A little help over here!" she shouted.

***

Hanarei's pleasure increased as her hand drove itself toward Enma's eye. She was going to enjoy this as much as possible. The pleasure suddenly stopped when she felt a tug from behind and she was pulled back. Hanarei looked behind to see Tomeo grabbing her from behind and pulling her away. "Let go, you piece of slime," she growled, her voice sounding different from her own She freed herself from Tomeo. But soon after, she grabbed him by the neck, lifted him slightly into the air, and drew a fist back. "I warned you before and thought that was enough. Now I see I have to beat it into you."

Just then, Hanarei could hear someone crying out. It was Hisennyumon. Suddenly, something in Hanarei's mind clicked and she went into another state standing there with blank eyes, her hand still wrapped around Tomeo's throat. The fierce look on her had vanished. It was seconds later that Hanarei blinked as though she had woken up. Her eyes returned to their normal purple color.

"Huh? Wha-What just happened?" she said, her regular voice back the way it was. She noticed the hand around Tomeo and quickly let go. "Tomeo...." She looked behind her and saw Enma on the ground. "What did I just do?" She couldn't remember a thing about how she got into the situation she was in. The last thing she could remember was Enma punching her but that was it till now. It felt strange, having a gap in her memory.

***

Shouki fell back out of the battle area and slid up against a wall. He rubbed the back of his head as he sat up. "Gah, I've lost count of the number of times I've been knocked down on this adventure," he said. As he looked around, he could see the new forms of digimon/human in the battle. This just seemed to get weirder by the moment. A dark shadow fell over Shouki. He looked up and could see three small shadow birds flying toward his direction. Paniked, he froze on the spot and backed-up against the wall.

Kaishimon saw Shogaimon coming faster and faster toward him with her sword. He tried to dodge it by jumping at the last second but ended up having the right side of him hurt from the katana. He landed awkwardly from the jump and fell down onto his side. He may have been a ghost-cat, but that didn't mean he was transparent.

Kaishimon slowly lifted his head in the direction of Shouki only to find he was in danger. "Shouki, run for it," he yelled. His partner didn't respond. "Get the lead out and move."

The shadow birds were closer now and Shouki watched them every moment. Was this going to be the end of him, he thought. Unsure what to do, he shouted. "HIKARU!!!"

Kaishimon dissolved into a long strand of light. It snaked its way past the others and directly into Shouki. "Kaishimon digivolved to... Eikonmon!" There was a burst of light, followed by the sound of the shadow birds being sliced into pieces. A new digimon had leapt out off the light. He was a cat/human hybrid with the body of a human with the black ears and tail of a cat. His hands were a mix with claws on them. Eikonmon wore a tattered cloth over him which resembled a poncho, a fabric belt (possibly the same one from Reimumon), a pair of light tan pants, and bandages wrapped around below his knees. Patches of decayed skin were on him, including a large patch on his face which goes over his right dark brown eye.

After shredding the shadows, Eikonmon took a look at himself. "Wait is this?" he said, his voice sounding both like Shouki and Reimumon's. "It's your, I mean, our new form," he told himself, sounding slightly more chipper like Reimumon. "This is going to take some work." That time he sounded more like Shouki.

Mentally, Shouki's half was shaking his head. 'What's the matter Shouki?' thought Reimumon.

'Have you noticed that our body is a little more buff then mine was and is bare?' thought Shouki.

'Yeah, what about it?'

'I just hope Naoko doesn't suddenly get "the urge" to do something drastic if she sees it.' Reimumon mentally giggled at Shouki's comment.

***

Enma just stayed where she was for a few moments, breathing heavily. She looked from Tomeo to Hanarei and back, before she finally registered the word 'danger' from Tomeo, though he ahd said it a while ago.

She tried to pull herself up slowly, and winced as the feeling in her arm suddenly came back to tell her exactly how hurt her arm was. She stopped for a moment, adjusting her weight so that she was favoring her left side, and pulled herself into a standing position.

"Um...thanks." she said blandly to Tomeo, before looking around at the new digimon that were fighting. "This is not good." she said. "So many alarms have probably gone off by now..." she rubbed her shoulder and hissed in pain, but kept it up until the pain dulled to an ache.

***

Shinzuimon looked around the bubble of water he was no stuck in. "This is bad..." The rope appeared in his hands again. "Rat Poison!" he said, twirling it at Leviamon, hoping to at least dissuade her attack. He looked out of the bubble and saw Enma in a standing position. He let out a sigh of relief, before looking back at Leviamon.

***

"You're welcome..." Tomeo replied to Enma, rubbing the area around his neck. Sitting up from his slouched position on the ground and having caught his breath after almost being choked to death, he looked up at Hanarei with some confusion. "That's what I'd like to know. You tell me." he said to her, attempting to stand up. How the hell had Hanarei grown so much strength to pull him off the ground like that? No, not important. Taking in his surroundings now, he suddenly realized with the addition of two newly evolved digimon, they were in even more danger than before.

"C'mon, let's move to a safer place. We'll get creamed if we stay here any longer." he told the two girls, looking back at the battle between Leviamon and Shinzuimon as he moved out of harm's way.

***

Leviamon growled as Shinzuimon's Rat Poison attack connected with her chin, almost making her lose her concentration to drop the sphere around them. She still had enough energy to maintain it, and she needed to be intact if she wanted her attack to be successful. With no quick quips, she decided to launch forward with a quick attack instead to catch Shinzuimon off-guard. "Deep Tsunami!" she chanted, becoming the very water around her as her spear-tail lanced out through the deep to torpedo him.

***

Shogaimon snarled at the new digimon not far from where she stood, and observed Eikonmon. "A new evolution, with his digidestened. They're merged?" She regarded it... him... them? Well, whatever. She regarded Eikonmon with an egotistic air, although she was pretty sure she couldn't do too much damage against a higher evolution than her own. Snarling as best one could when one still had a beak, Shogaimon looked around for Asayake. She found the girl crouched down behind a rather sturdy display case, staring wide-eyed in the direction of Enma, Hanarei and Tomeo.

The girl felt herself shaking, and tried to will it away. All throughout the battle, it had been increasingly harder to kee her anger in check. Every time someone was put on the spot, anger and fear for the safety of that person flared in her stomach, and she had to stomp it out quickly. No matter who she saw, she felt the undying need to protect them all, even though more than half of them weren't even on actual friendly terms with her. It was rather frustrating, and it was taking more enegry than she'd have liked to keep herself restrained. She felt rather light-headed, and she was fairly sure her freckles were more obvious than ever against her now rather pale skin. She cursed when the shaking wouldn't stop, but her eyes never left Tomeo and Hanarei.

What on Earth had happened? Was that how she looked whenever her anger got the better of her? Asayake stared at Hanarei, slightly unnerved by the look she'd seen in her eyes; if it was, she never wanted to do it again. It had made her feel very cold. Even from as far away as she was, she'd almost FELT Hanarei becoming someone else. Acutally, mused the rational portion of her brain that just LOVEd to remind her of stupid things, she had felt the oddest sharp sensation in her chest when Tomeo was lifted of the ground, which had drawn her attention to the group, not the change in Hanarei. As always, Asayake disregarded this section of her brain, and waved Shogaimon over to her hiding place. The bird-person-thing -- Asayake wasn't quite sure which she was more of -- took off from her place near Eikonmon, and landed heavily next to her in a split second. "Um... Shogaimon?"

"Yes?" The hybrid blinked at her, a slightly worried tone to her voice.

"D'you think you could get me over to those three?" Asked the redhead, pointing towards them. She noticed her hand shaking, and immeiately snatched it back. Shogaimon looked at her oddly.

"You're too lazy to walk two dozen feet?"

"No, it's not that," Asayake said, giving Shogaimon a rather embarrassed and annoyed look, "I... don't think I can stand. For some reason." She added, when the look on her digimon's face turned to surprise. Shogaimon rolled her eyes, but picked up Asayake and flew her over to the group. It had looked rather odd, considering that Asayake was only about four inches shorter than Shogaimon, but it got her there. The hybrid digimon put her down gently, but Asayake didn't stumble at all. Staunching the sudden urge to hug Tomeo, she chewed on a corner of her bottom lip. "Is everyone okay?" She gave Tomeo and Hanarei a meaningful, worried look, purposely ignoring Enma.

***

Tetsumon attempted to ward off the flock of Shadow birds with a good dose of Flame Tongue, but the effect was less that he expected, and he was drown in a mob. “The is nothing poetic about looking at blackbirds.from any angle. Mr. Stevens was whack!” He could feel the chill silhouettes drain the life from their metal bones as they flew through him. He faltered but didn’t fall. “You bitch…no that’s too good for you…You prudish goth wannbe! Yes, I’m a bad doggy. Dad was a junkyard dog and mom…she was a real bitch.” He hoped whatever Centaurmon had done to his Naoko would take effect soon so he could level up like the others. He was closer to being out of gas than he wanted the others to know.

***

Tiktokmon had raised his arm to what he figured was an attack, but Centaurmon had transferred his energy instead. “I would have never guessed he had any compassion for Naoko. Maybe, it’s the horse’s influence.” Either way Tegiwa’s mind was stunned to see Hanshin show that kind of kindness to fallen Naoko.

“It just means she and the others will be hurt again and again until you give up on the pieces. Bruises and broken bones can heal. Broken Universes take longer to fix. Yeah, none of us knows what will happen with the key; I say we never find out. Too hard a concept for you to grasp? Well, our lives aren’t work the universe and neither are yours. I can’t worry about anyone when everyone could die…or something worse.”

***

Naoko felt the energy surge into her body, stop her pain, and mend her flesh. She stood up with Yuu’s help, and gave a thumbs up symbol to Centaurmon. “Thanks Love!”

“Tetsumon! Get ready! And….Biomerge! to Haganemon!”

Tetsumon ran towards her, and as he did so, he evapored into a steel grey cloud. That cloud surrounded and condensed onto Naoko. When the cloud settled, neither mon nor Naoko remained. Instead, there was a a gleaming 9 foot tall Giant made of shimmering metal that looked like mercury. The giant wore armour emblazoned with a three headed dog. shield was the same, and his helmet and visor were made to look dog-like. His armour was greek in style and made of what looked like bronze and leather.

The giant was heavily muscled and in his right hand he held a massive pilum made of the same glimmering material he was.

“Nice, but something seems….different.”

***

"A little help here!" Divinamon called towards Tomeo, Asayake and Hanarei when Eikonmon and Haganemon appeared. Knowing Tegiwa, he was likely to keep Hanshin or Centaurmon - she still wasn't sure what to call them now - entertained and busy. But, Haganemon was likely to launch an attack, and Eikonmon would follow suit. She knew Hanshin had used his powers to help Naoko get the energy to digivolve up to this level. The cheat.

The bird-human hybrid took to the air, floating several feet above the parking lot with her wings spread wide. She stared down at Haganemon and Eikonmon. Which to attack first? It didn't matter. Whoever was closer and easier, and that meant Eikonmon.

"Divine Kiss!" she commanded as she spun in mid-air. Holding her hands close to her face, she breathed black energy between them into a ball. She glared down at Eikonmon as she held the ball by her side. The energy swirled, increasing in size and power. It was time to get these guys out of their way and take the key fragments away from those who were truly endandering the universe. With as much force as possible, she hurled the ball of energy towards Eikonmon, which shot like a bullet from her hands.

***

"And you have no hope, that's what," Centaurmon replied. "A natural-born pessimist is what I see. I am not trying to destroy the universe. It's that dark queen who wants to destroy all, not me. What do you think I am? Do you honestly think I am that horrible and stupid? I only mean to stop that queen from destroying our universe." He pointed his spear towards Tikutokumon as he prepared to attack the robot again. "You all want to believe that nothing will happen if you keep telling yourselves that it's all a bunch of lies. Or perhaps it's that you've all repeated the lies so much in your heads that you've come to actually believe them. The books of prophecy don't lie. They said we were going to become digi-destined, and isn't that true? They said that a dark queen is coming, and, well, I give the books the benefit of the doubt. We may not know whether it's true, but the fates have their way with destiny. That queen is destined to come here, and I will be ready to stop her. And, they say that the key will be used to stop her, so I'm going to do what the fates tell me to do." The digimon reared onto his hind legs again. Streams of light began to collect at Centaurmon's spear point. "Sagittarian Curse!" Another bolt of energy and light headed for the gigantic robot. "And I'm not going to let you, my sister, or anyone stop me from my destiny!"

***

Tomeo stiffened as he watched the battle unfold, hearing Asayake and Divinamon call to him. He felt a sigh of relief in his lungs when he heard Asayake's voice, glad to see she was okay and let her know it by bringing a faint smile to his lips. She was the only one he had left unaccounted for in the group, and having her present alive and well seemed to lift some of the tension in the back of his mind. He looked up in some awe at Soranomon's new form, Shogaimon, and felt somewhat grateful that Asayake had such a strong and faithful partner to look out for her.

"Yeah, I'm okay..." he answered shakily to Asayake, rubbing his throat with his hand subconsciously, reminded of the ordeal. He had felt so helpless being suspended in mid-air by Hanarei like that. He wasn't sure what he could do besides support Leviamon in battle. But now Haganemon had appeared and the power in the battle had shifted, sooner or later some of them were going to get hurt unless they came to Divinamon's call and digivolved again. She could hold them off as long as they could, but they had to act. Could they power up their digimon to the next level, to turn the tide of the battle? He wasn't sure. He would have to try, they had nothing else. With his digivice in hand, he looked over at Leviamon, who was still locked in battle with Shinzuimon. She looked like she was winning, but he couldn't be sure at this point.

"Leviamon! Forget him, I need your help!" he waved, trying to get his partner's attention. Over the roar of the battle, he got the impression she couldn't hear him. "Leviamon, digivolve!" he tried again, pointing the digivice towards her, but it didn't seem to work. He looked at his digivice, shaking it in frustration, and then glanced hesitantly towards Haganemon, who appeared to be looking for targets. He had to think, and fast. How could he digivolve to the next level? What was the connection? With so many images and voices going through his senses he struggled to think straight, and thought back to the last few battles. Then, it hit him. The digimon, they digivolved when there was a shared feeling or emotion between them. He was so stupid - why hadn't he realized it until now? He had felt a strong surge of emotion flood though him when Takamon had first digivolved to Leviamon. And all the digimon here had digivolved again when they needed to save their partners or when they were making a statement.

"Guys, try and get your digimon to help Divinamon. I'm - I'm going to try something." he told Hanarei and Asayake, stepping quickly away from them before they could reply. He felt a sharp stab of fear in his gut as he walked in front of Haganemon, but as he looked up at the metal giant and realized what he was fighting for, for some reason there and then, he felt brave enough to shout loudly up at him. He took a deep breath.

"Hey, knuckle-head!" he called to Haganemon, picking up a piece of concrete and throwing it at him to get his attention. He was trying to get himself emotional, hoping he could trigger something to make Leviamon digivolve. Either that, or he hoped putting himself in danger would influence the others enough to digivolve. "I don't care how strong you are now. Leviamon beat your sorry ass last time, and she'll do it again this time! You know why? Because what you're fighting for is wrong. Are you fighting for what you believe in, or are you fighting for what Hanshin believes in? I'd fight everyone here if it meant I was standing up for what I believe in is right. If Hanshin turned sides, would you follow? I bet you would! You fold under pressure easier than a super-hero on laundry day. You would fight for anything in his favor, even if it means putting your own ideals in second place. That's why I pity you. And there's nothing you can do to prove me wrong. I'm right, and you know it. You want to take it out on me, for what happened to Naoko? Fine. But unlike Tegiwa, I bet you don't have the guts." He threw out his arms to emphasize his words. "You always wanted us one way or another, whatever the hell you are now. So, here we are. Come and get us!" he yelled, standing up to the Biomerged digimon. He side-glanced over his shoulder at his group, hoping they could forgive him for stalling for them. He was crazy for what he was doing, but he truly believed he was doing the right thing. He turned his attention back to Haganemon. This had to work, or he was screwed.

***

Haganeimon glowered at the puny Tomeo. “Yes, I follow Hanshin, so of course I’d switch. I’ve been with him for nearly three years, so I trust his judgment and vision. Can you say the same of his sister? She’s been bad mouthing him for nothing for years now just because he has his own destiny and he makes her look bad. He works hard at being a musician. It’s a passion with him. So, okay, maybe he doesn’t care about school. He doesn’t need all that. His path is another path.

“Face it weenie-boy, you and your friends are just fooling yourselves if you think this adventure is more than HER academic bigotry and PMS. You’ve been had. Hanshin is a good guy and he cares about his friends. Tegiwa used to know what that meant before he started following Lil Miss Nazi around with his nose up her ass. Now, SHE wants to get the keys so hanshin won’t. Nice how that leaves HER with the key. She just wants the credit and the power that goes with it--- simply to deny her brother something.”

“But, you are just as bad. You piled on Hanshin with her from the start. Do you even know either of them? Let me guess! You thought the idea sounded good....just proves you’re a putz.”

Haganeimon leered Naoko-like at Tomeo, “But, you are cute when you are a putz….”

***

“Time’s Teeth, Tikutokumon tired to block attack with his gears. “No, I just don’t trust you. It’s called good thinking, not pessimism. I wouldn’t trust your with the power of a penlight.”

***

Eikonmon was to busy trying to figure out entirely what had happened to his body since the transformation. It was difficult to figure out who had the greater control of the body with Shouki and Reimumon having such different personalities.

"Heads up!" Reimumon mentally shouted.

Eikonmon looked up to see Divinamon making her attack and sending it in his direction. The shot was too fast for him to avoid it and it hit him in the chest. He flew into the air because of the attack and landed on the ground with a loud thud. As he tried to get back up, he grabbed the wounded area with his hand and started to cough. "*Cough* Why? *Cough* *cough* Why are you always attacking me?" he said. "I've done nothing to harm you. I haven't even placed one finger on you." Slowly, there was a change in his expression. It seemed as though the Reimumon half was gaining ground. "If that's how you're going to treat me, then I'll shove back too."

Trying to ignore the pain in his chest, with amazing speed, Eikonmon started to run but not directly toward Divinamon. He was aiming more for a wall close to her. As Eikonmon drew closer to the wall, he jumped up and used the momentum from his run to allow him to take several steps on the wall. As he gained a slight altitude, he jumped from the wall toward Divinamon and had come to the same height as she was at. He drew back one of his claws and shouted, "Shredded Soul!" The expression on his face showed that, unlike how Shouki usually acted, he was not holding back this time.

***

Another gear smacked Centaurmon in the chest while the others were eaten up by his attack.

"Good thinking?" he asked. "What kind of lies has Shireika poisoned you with? I believe that what we're doing here is just trying to be prepared for what may come. When and if the queen shows up, we use the key. Until then, we protect the key. The key itself is not inherently dangerous, and power is neither evil nor good. It's all a matter of who is using it." He paused. "Still, your only reason to stop me is because of personal reasons. I keep hearing how you don't trust me. We -" He whirled the spear in a circle to point at all the digi-destined. "- are the ones who will be using this power. Not me. All of us. Otherwise, this is all just some personal vendetta that Shireika set you up to. Then again, you're always trying to impress her somehow, aren't you? Trying to prove your undying devotion to her, so maybe she'll notice you." He laughed. "Like she's going to notice you because of all of that. Like every girl in the world, she wants a real man, and you, my friend, are still a little boy."

***

Divinamon could see Eikonon charge towards her as he dissolved into a ghost, and she tried to dodge out of the way. As Eikonmon passed her, his claws dug into her left arm. Fortunately, he hadn't passed through her middle.

"You stand between me and stopping all of us from making the biggest mistake of our lives," she hissed as she turned around to looked at Eikonmon. Her right hand clung to her left arm where she had been slashed. It hurt painfully, but it didn't bleed. He wasn't getting away with it. Flapping her wings once, she sped straight for Eikonmon. As she neared him, she brought a clenched fist sharply against his jaw.

***

"I-I think so," said Hanarei to Asayake although it didn't sound like it. She placed a hand over her forehead to see if she was sick or something. "I saw... more images. They're getting clearer. But, none of them make sense to me still." Most of the images Hanarei had seen contained that of a young boy. It was too hard trying to figure out who he was since his figure was still blurry like the way a person who had taken off their glasses would see. As for other people who Hanarei could see in her mind, it was a jumble of relations, names, and faces but none of them were put together.

This was driving Hanarei crazy. She was coming closer to finding out what these images were but something was leaving off all of the important details. Then it hit her. "Everytime my partner digivolves," she said slowly as she realized it, "the more I remember. I can finally find out what's going on." She smiled after saying this. "Where's Hisennyumon?" she asked.

Hanarei finally spotted Hisennyumon floating in mid-air and unable to move. The digimon caught her partner's eye and shouted. "Hurry up and get me out of here," said Hisennyumon.

"I'll do more than just that," Hanarei replied. She heard Tomeo's theory on how digimon evolved with their humans. Now was as good a time to try it. "How do you feel right now?"

"I'm floating in mid-air, unable to move, and I have someone ready to attack me. Besides the fact that I want to tear something apart, I'm just cheery over here!"

"Got it." Hanarei left Asayake where she was and sprinted to her partner. She looked over at Tsurumon getting ready to attack then back at Hisennyumon. Hanarei tried to match her emotions with her digimon as best she could. "Leave my partner alone!" She tried to imagine Hisennyumon being teared to shreds along with herself in the attack. She was trying to make herself angry. It seemed to work.

When Hanarei touched Hisennyumon, there was a bright light between the two. "Hisennyumon digivolved to... Hanabimon!" Hanabimon was now more than anything a cross between Hanarei and Hisennyumon. Her skin was a red tint, her eyes were large, black, and oval-shaped, and her ears were long and pointed. Her clothes had changed into an orange halter top and a short orange skirt. For accessories she had cuffs shaped like flames and a black collar around her neck. Her ember-glowing wings were about half the size of her body. "Come on," she said to herself, "show me more."

***

Eikonmon's expression was blank after he had made contact with Divinamon. He just wanted all of this to end now. Divinamon's fist punched him in the jaw while he was still in mid-air. The punch sent him flying in the direction of a wall. He hit it, creating a small inpression in the wall, then landed on the ground. However, possibly because of the cat half in him, he landed on all fours.

"That's odd," Eikomon said sarcastically, "from where I stand, you're in my way." Not wanting to let her get away, Eikonmon fired another attack at Divinamon. "Scream from Beyond!" Eikonmon began to emit a blood-curdling scream that grew louder with every moment. It was directed exactly toward Divinamon. From her point of view, the sound waves was distorting the ground.

'What am I doing?' thought Eikonmon while he attacked. 'This isn't like me. Why can't I stop this?'

***

Tsurumon was so absorbed in powering up for his attack that he didn't even notice the several shadowy birds zooming towards him. They rushed into him, not only weakening him severely but throwing off his focus on the attack. With no outlet, the energy he had stored in his whiskers arched through his body causing even more damage. He fell out of the air and hit the ground hard, barely holding his champion-level data together.

***

Yuu was surprised when Naoko was suddenly healed by Centaurmon's attack, but that was nothing to her surprise at what happened next. Naoko and her digimon seemed to... merge, somehow, and then there was a huge metal giant in their place. She realized immediately that this was what had happened to Hanshin and Shireika and the rest, they must have merged with their digimon to help them evolve. Amazing...

But her thought was cut short when she saw Tsurumon fall out of the corner of her eye. "Tsurumon!" she cried out, running straight to his side and placing a hand on his slender neck. "Tsurumon, are you alright?" All she got in reply was a warbling chuckle that quickly died out. Her hand started trembling. "Tsurumon..? Tsurumon!!"

***

"Tomeo!" shouted Asayake, suddenly panicked. She started towards him, but her path was immediately blocked by Shogaimon's sword. Eyes wild, Asayake gave her a questioning glance. "Shogaimon, what are you doing!?"

"Tomeo is safe, Asayake," said the hybrid, focusing on Tomeo and Haganeimon rather than her digidestened, "Haganeimon has not attacked Tomeo, and does not seem inclined to at the moment. Besides, Tomeo is attempting to initiate a Biomerge," Shogaimon's eye gave a little switch at this as she shouldered her sword, "Although rather foolishly. He will be fine; his digimon will make sure of that."

"But..." Asaykae started, but cut herself off from the rest of her sentence. She slammed her eyes closed, figitng with the gnawing anger in her gut and the nearly uncontrollable need to help all of her friends all at once. She was definitely not used to being forced to sit tight and watch while someone else did all the figiting, but that was what her digimon was asking her to do. Stay here, and I'll fight your battles for you. 'She can't fight all of my battles!' Asayake's heart screamed at her, urging her forward, 'I have to help! But I can't!' She shook rather roughly, and grabbed her shoulders to try and steady herself.

"Asayake?" Shogaimon asked, regarding her digidestened worriedly, "Why are you shaking?"

"It's... nothing," She grunted, tightening her grip on her shoulders, "Just... It's trying to come back... I don't want it to -- to happen again..." She bit her bottom lip, and abandoned her shoulders to clutch at her head. Shrinking down to the ground on her haunches, she tuched her head into her legs. "I thought it was gone... They said I was better... But I'm not better!" Her voice broke into a broken shout; her knuckles whitened and her fingers bent sharply as she tried to control her anger, "I'm not! I'm not better at all!"

Shogaimon, at a total loss as to what to do, hunkered down and abandoned her sword, holding her arms out as if to pull Asayake into a hug, but never did so. She looked around frantically, but quickly returned her gaze to the redhead beside her. Was this why Asayake's songs were all so sad? What wasn't better? Was she sick?

Just what was going on?

***

Tomeo flinched a little and stepped back, looking up at Haganemon. Did that digimon just say he was cute? It sounded a little like Naoko, but it was disturbing that it had came out in a male voice. “Well one of us is cute here, and it definitely ain’t you, ugly.” Tomeo shot back, feeling a little uneasy that the digimon hadn’t tried to attack him. Was he waiting for a more appropriate time? Maybe not. Maybe like Naoko, Haganemon just wanted to talk rather than fight. Figuring he could turn it around back on her and use it as a distraction while the others prepared, he kept talking. As long as Haganemon wasn’t fighting, she was useless to her side.

“You’ve got quite a mouth on you after being thrown into a display case, haven’t you?” he mocked the giant, feeling literally like he was in a verbal David versus Goliath battle, with sticks and stones being the verbal weapons. “You would think that would keep you quiet so you could lick your wounds, but I guess it was wrong. And, to think, I still pity you. Of course, you turn this around and make this about Shireika. Typical. You’ve had a grudge against her for a long time and you still can’t let it go that she doesn’t like you or Hanshin. Shame, it’s more than likely the fact that you’re denying subconsciously that you really want her to like you, so you can get her blessing for you and Hanshin. Why don’t you just give it up and start being nice for a change? The tough act isn’t fooling anyone. And I can see your point that you’d stick with Hanshin not matter what, so you can stick up for him even when you know he’s wrong. He is in this case, by the way. But if you’re trying to prove a point here as a reason for getting this key, your reasons are dead wrong. If you understood the consequences and weighed them with how much you care for Hanshin, you would go against him and stop him from getting that key. You can’t share your ‘destiny’ with him if he’s corrupted or dead. Wake up.”

His line of sight switched to Divinamon fighting Eikonmon nearby, and back again. “Okay, so let’s just say that you so-called theory about Shireika is right, if you’re going to bring it up again. She doesn’t even believe in the Watcher or the Dark Queen, for starters! And I don’t think she’d go so far and play around with lives just to prove some point to her brother. She understands the risks involved, even if you pass them off as lies. And above all that, even if she was doing everything out of spite, I still support her. You know why? Unlike you, I’d stop her from putting lives in danger even if she’s wrong because that’s what friends do. Unlike you, I’m not pushed around by her aggressive influence to make her beliefs my own. Hanshin didn’t need to punch me to make me see things his way, and yet he did, so don’t give me bullshit about him completely being a nice guy. Shireika attacked you, true, but she hates you for what you make Hanshin look like, not to instigate you. And maybe she has reason to, because you let yourself be pushed around by him and agree to whatever decisions he makes, even if it means putting others at risk for your relationship, and that’s just plain selfish. So get your priorities straight and stand up for yourself, not everything he wants can be the same as yours, and if it is then you’re not being true to yourself, are you? What a life. You could do so much better for yourself.”

He continued, momentarily rubbing his throat. It was hard yelling up to a giant digimon, especially after being throttled around the neck. “Tegiwa’s decision is his own, I can’t speak for him. Like Hanshin, he has good intentions, but he’s going about it all wrong. And I’m just as bad? Speak for yourself, tin-head. You were hard on Shireika’s case way before Hanshin’s fist found my gut for target practice. Maybe you know Hanshin way more than I think I ever want to know, but from what I’ve heard you don’t know jack about Shireika. I could have gotten to know Hanshin better, if the jackass decided to answer my e-mail before this started, but he had to go ahead with the decision to unleash hell on the world instead. At least me, Shireika and the others came to a consensus with the idea to go against him – you don’t agree to anything at all, and just let Hanshin lead you around like an obedient dog on a leash without a thought. So, now who’s the one who’s been had?”

He stopped, sensing the light from digivolution nearby. He turned, watching Hanarei and Hisennyumon biomerge into Hanabimon. He would have cheered or wooped, if he hadn't noticed a certain girl knelt down with her head between her hands.

"Asayake!" he heard himself cry out, fearing his friend had been struck by some kind of attack. He felt his pulse rate go up significantly, more than it ever had when he was talking to Haganemon, and ignored him as he ran over to the red-headed girl.

"Asayake... what happened? Are you okay!?" he gasped, kneeling down beside her and placing a comforting hand on her back. He was panicking, not quite sure if Asayake was covering a wound she had recieved on her head, or if it was safe to move her hand considering the pain she seemed to be in. He didn't even know if she was in a condition to answer. For a moment, the concern for her suddenly was replaced by anger, thinking about her attacker. He looked up at Shogaimon, trying to find some quick answers. "Who... who did this to her!?"

***

Tikutokumon laughed, an odd sound that seemed made by spinning flywheels and clicking gears in his gut."I'm not so little right now o great masher of keyboard keys. There's no way I let you get away with the key because, Pandora, if you use that key there won't likely be enough left of this world for me to worry about who I may or may not want to impress. Don't you know Shireika knows me too well to fall for simple grandstanding you fool! However, i don't think taking you down would hurt matters. But, you should take a look at yourself in that regard since you seem to inspire that same undying devotion in your bedmates. Have you ever seen Naoko as more than a bedwarmer for your other girls? Appreciated what she does for you with her clothes on?"

Tegiwa had lost his cool this fight even though he was biomerged. His digimon conscience seemed to have gone awol leaving him alone in the dark. The fight was like watching a horror show in slow motion from the sidelines. Had he ever believed in anything? Faith? Philosohy? familar values? He had abandon everything he was supposed to cherish. But, it was for a good cause. He had to save everyone even if he killed Hanshin. Nothing mattered. So he'd go to Hell or live in regret. Better him than everyone. "Hanshin.....enough. It's too late late.. I've had it. Buh-bye! TIME'S TEETH!" He whirled like a mad dervish as he chucked gear after gear at Centaurmon. The deadly charka sped toword the horse with deadly intent.

****

Haganemon put his hands on his hips in a feminine fashion while pursing his lips. "Oh...you! you think you know everything. I make my own choices too! I chose to follow Hanshin, and it' not blind. Don't talk like you know us. You may have made you your mind on your own, and we may have done some things wrongly, but you don't have near the data that we do. Predjudice is what.....Hey, I'm talking here don't walk away. Fine, I'll go talk to Tikutokumon....or the wall. Looks like he's still steamed....What the...? Tegiwa, calm down. You'll kill him....shit..." HGN-mon tried to jump in front of Tikutokumo's gear attack.

***

Eikonmon's attack headed towards Divinamon faster than she could possibly avoid. When she brought her hands up to protect her face, the shockwave sent her hurling backwards into a nearby car, giving it a nice dent and shattering the windows.

"How can they be so stupid?" she grumbled softly as she got up from the mess of glass pieces on the ground. They fell off her black wings as she stood up to look at Eikonmon. "I'm getting a little tired of having to always pick up after my brother to keep him from making too much of a mess. Divine Kiss!" With what strength she had left, she blew between her hands to create another ball of energy which she immediately hurled at Eikonmon.

***

"What the hell?" Centaurmon muttered when Tikutokumon seemed to lose all sense of control. There was something in the robot's voice. He was out to kill if necessary. And, they all said that Hanshin was crazy. When Haganemon intervened in Tikutokumon's incoming attacks, the white centaur prepared to attack the robot digimon. "Thanks, sweetheart." He leapt into the air towards Tikutokumon, aiming his spear right at his foe. "Sagittarian Curse!" he called when he spear's tip was only a foot from the digimon's face, shooting a powerful beam of energy at close range.

***

Hanabimon hesistated waiting for more images to come to her. If her theory was correct, she believed she would have more clues for why this was happening to her. 'Why have I been seeing people I don't know, or saying names I've never heard of?' she thought. 'Why does it feel like there's something inside me? I want to know.' Her wish was granted.

Hanabimon shuddered as more images came to her. But it didn't feel as serious this time possibly due to being combined with Hisennyumon. The images now seemed to be falling into place with events in her mind. She was beginning to understand who some of these people were. But there was still something missing; something big. 'It must be the key point in these images,' Hanarei thought. 'But what could it be?' Finally, it was over.

Hanabimon fell to her knees, heavily breathing, when all the images were finished sorting themselves out for now. She looked up and was smiling at her theory being correct. "I'm almost there," she said triumphantly. "Now I just need to continue it." It seemed that Himotomon grew stronger the more she fought and the more she fought, the faster she digivolved. "It's worth a try. Plus, it takes care of my need to fight."

Looking for some targets, Hanabimon rested her eyes one three; Enma, Yuu, and Tsurumon. "May as well fry three birds with one blast," she said mostly to herself. She placed her hands together and flames started to emerge from her fingertips. "Yuu, Enma, Tsurumon," she shouted to all three of them, "all those punches and kicks and whatnot, we're now even." She thrust her hands outward and shouted, "Firework Frenzy!" A rapid barrage of fireballs zoomed out of her hands like bullets. To make sure she could get all three of them, Hanabimon moved her hands around to cover the area.

***

Eikonmon stopped his scream attack once he saw Divinamon slam into the car. He tried to move in closer for another attack but saw Divinamon making her own. 'I've got to make it there before she can,' he thought. He continued to run toward her hoping that time was on his side. He jumped up with his claws extended, ready to pounce on her, but he was too late. The Divine kiss caught him in the shoulder and he spun off course on to the ground to the left of Divinamon.

Eikonmon tried to pick himself back up but he did it slowly. He could feel his energy start to plummet. "I've got to end this," he whispered to himself. He footing showed him slightly stumbling. "If I stop you, I can end this fight."

'But I could stop the fight too by not fighting,' Shouki thought.

It was like the body and mind weren't coressponding with each other. Eikonmon showed his claws to Divinamon and rubbed them together, creating a metal on metal sound. The only thing Eikonmon wanted to do that moment was sink his claws into his opponent. Again, Eikonmon launched himself toward Divinamon. He looked like a demon cat as he hissed and held his claws in front of him, aiming for her chest.

***

Enma had been watching the battles between the biomerged human and digimon partners. She heard Hanabimon shout her name, but didn't turn.

"Enma!" Shinzuimon shouted at her. The digimon ran over to his partner, and stood in front of Enma. "Weren't you paying attention?" He demanded.

"No, not really." Enma said, still lost in thought. Then she noticed the large fireball coming at them. "Uh...what do we do, Shinzuimon?" She asked, eyes widening.

"I'd say 'run', but there's no where to run." he said. The attack kept coming closer, and Enma tried to get away from it, but she tripped on something behind her. She fell, and her digivice went skittering across the ground. She looked around, before grabbing the piece of metal she had tripped over. She held it up and ran in front of Shinzuimon. "Uh...Enma, I'm the one who's supposed to protect you, remember?" he asked.

"I know, but..." Enma saw her digivice beeping in the corner, and she dropped the piece of metal. It clanged to the ground, and she went over to her digivice.

"Enma? Large fireball heading are way? Would you mind acting like a normal human and panicking?" Shinzuimon yelled. Enma ignored him and picked up her digivice. There was a flash of light, and Shinzuimon smirked. "Oh..." he said. "Shinzuimon digivolve to...Masuraomon!"

Enma and Shinzuimon biomerged into a large blue creature with a masquerade mask on. "Leave them alone." Masuraomon said, pulling out one of his katanas. "Flying Endurance!" He said, sending the katana towards Hanabimon.

***

Even with her eyes closed, Asayake's head was swimming. She felt herself wobble, but forced her legs to hold her up. She heard someone's voice, and felt a hand on her back, but she didn't recognize the voice; it echoed, dull and painful in her head, like someone shouting to her under water. Slowly, carefully, she opened her eyes, and stared at her knees for a moment. She blinked and lifted her head to put a face to the voice, but her vision was foggy. 'Oh God.' Her eyes widened as her mind sloshed around in her skull, and she slammed her eyes shut once more, moving her hands around her mouth as a sharp wave of nausea hit her. Balance lost, she sagged forward into Tomeo, her knees grinding into the cold tile below her feet as her shoulder bounced off of his chest.

She felt a strange warm feeling spread down her arm and across her shoulders then. Confused, she cracked oppen her eyes, trying to figure out what exactly she'd fallen into. The feeling spread slowly, moving up the back of her neck to her head; within seconds the sloshy feeling was subsiding, and her vision cleared completely. Her hands melted slowly away from her mouth as her stomach settled, and she felt her anger almost deflate as the warmth settled into the base of her rib cage. Mind suddenly and surprisingly clear, her head snapped up to identify whatever she was using to hold herself up. Worried green eyes met her own, veiled slightly by dark bangs. "T-Tomeo!" She squeaked, snapping up, back rigid. Surprised and embarassed, her pale cheeks coloured only slightly, but she was sure her freckles were standing out more than ever. 'what was that?' her mind asked to no one in particular, as she stared wide-eyed at the boy in front of her, 'Why did it go away?'

'Why does it matter?' Her mind asked again, as Asayake let the worried look on Tomeo's face settle into her vision, 'It did, and Tomeo's the one that did it. Whatever it was, it came from him; that's all that matters.' She stared at him a moment longer, her eyes steady. After about a minute of simply staring, calm and unreadable, she lunged forward as if she were on a spring, wrapping her arms around his neck and knocking the boy backwards. What started as a mantra in her head eventually mumbled it's way out of her mouth, barely audible, but there nonetheless. "Thank you, thank you, thank you..."

Shogaimon righted herself, dragging her sword from its place on the floor. She shouldered it, looking down at her digidestened with a lop-sided smile.

***

Divinamon caught her breath after she had thrown her attack at Eikonmon, but moments later she found his claws launched into her chest. Adrenaline rushed through Divinamon when her body landed on the ground with Eikonmon's claws sunk in her.

"Get the hell off of me," she growled as she threw a punch at his face. She narrowed her eyes as she glared up at Eikonmon. Something seemed to fuel behind the color of her eyes, something burning. She grabbed Eikonmon's wrists and forcefully pulled his metal claws from her chest. She gave Eikonmon a kick to push him away. She picked herself up and rubbed at her chest. "You know, that hurt." With a flap of her black wings, she was suddenly hovering over him. Her wings enclosed around her and spread open. "Shadow Spawning!" Hundreds of little black birds appeared around her, but they merely hovered at her side, waiting for the moment to attack. "My turn." With those words, the shadow birds took to flight towards Eikonmon.

***

Hanabimon had to stop her Firework Frenzy once she saw the katana heading straight for her. Separating her hands and stopping the fireballs, she tried to catch the katana before it hit her. "Gothca!" she shouted at her success. Suddenly, the sword began to vibrate and before Hanabimon knew it, five ropes shout out of the katana and wrapped around her. "Hey, what gives?" She struggled to get out of the ropes.

"As soon as I get out of these, you are so AAAHHHHHHH!!!" Powerful shocks of electricity were running through her from the ropes. The sword was still hovering there in front of Hanabimon. Struggling to even speak, she gritted her teeth and looked to the others. "I already asked for it once, can I get an extra hand over here?" she growled.

***

Eikonmon landed on his feet after Divinamon kicked him off. He glanced down at his claws for a moment. Shouki's half seemed to be in shock, unable to speak, about what he had just done. He had hurt another person with his own hands.

Snapping back to reality, Eikonmon watched as more black birds appeared before him and around Divinamon. He was too tried to move and his energy was running low as it was. As the birds came down, the best he could do was block. The first group of birds kicked him up into the air while another group came from the side avoiding his block. Eikonmon felt himself keeping pummeled from all over. The birds were hitting him from every side causing him to move in mid-air like a rag doll being thrown back and forth. Finally, the birds seemed to stop and Eikonmon dropped to the ground with a thud.

Slowly picking up the top half of his body off the ground, he looked up at Divinamon. The eye that was surrounded by the decaying skin was half shut from the pain and he was panting heavily. "I've... I've got to keep going," he said weakly. "S-scream from Beyond!" He let out another scream from where he lay. It didn't sound as loud or as powerful as the last one.

***

Shogaimon didn't answer him, and again Tomeo found himself looking down at Asayake, feeling a little frightened. With all the loud explosions and screams intensifying his fear, he was scared that Asayake had somehow gotten herself seriously hurt when he hadn't been looking and couldn't see any blood to confirm it. What if he just knelt there and did nothing while she suffered and died from an unseen wound? Or what if he was already too late? No. He couldn't believe this was happening to someone so close to him, but it didn't mean he couldn't do anything about it, either. Had to try and get her out of harm's way, away from all of this. He was almost about to move her when she collapsed into him, and immediately his other arm caught her as he stumbled with her and pulled her in towards him, the hand already on her back supporting her. His heart started racing, he could feel it hammering against his chest. He knew something was definitely wrong. "Asayake!? Asayake, speak to me! Please, speak to me..." He shook her slightly, testing to see if she had fallen into unconsciousness. Her head snapped up, and suddenly he found himself releasing the breath he seemed to have been holding forever.

"Thank god..." he found himself saying softly in a half-muffled cry. "You're okay…?" He found his green eyes looking into hers, his eyes shifting side to side slightly scanning for something, searching for an emotion to how she was feeling, anything. All he could read was the beautiful, piercing color of green in her eyes. Usually when he made eye contact with someone for more than a second he felt intimidated enough to feel awkward and look away, but it was different with Asayake, somehow. And he couldn't understand why. It was as if she was about to say something, but didn't. He stared back at her for half a moment longer, and the screams and sounds of battle around them seemed to fade away like echoes until it was only the two of them.

He was snapped back into reality when Asayake lunged forward fully into his arms, wrapping him in a tight embrace. He choked, almost knocked out of breath from being slammed backwards from his kneeling position, but also from the astounding feeling of warmth he was being given. It was if he had been swimming in a lake full of ice, and then had been thrown into a hot tub. The contrast of her body warmth was so overwhelming, it was almost as if his senses couldn't take it in the fact she was there. The feeling of having someone hug him so affectionately in such a way, he felt so surprised it felt like his heart was leaping up to his throat and was forcing itself to come out. He had never felt this way before.

Once the shock had subsided, all that seemed to remain was the warmth he felt between them. He heard her whispering close to his ear, and he couldn't help but make a smile, even though she couldn't see it. Only then did he tighten his own hug around her hips in return, rubbing a hand between the shoulder blades on her back for reassurance. "You're welcome." was all he could seem to utter back, trying to mask some of the confusion behind his words. Why was she thanking him? 'Maybe because I was there to support her.' he convinced himself, loosing himself in the moment. Forgetting he was in the middle of a battle and with all the chances of becoming caught in the crossfire, he didn't care and could only think about being close to Asayake. It was the kind of comforting warmth he felt when he woke up early in the morning, but was too tired and too relaxed that he didn't want to get up.

'This is nice... but...' Thinking of the comparison, he suddenly realized what he doing, and reality sunk in. He might have become lost in the fantasy that a girl had her arms wrapped around him, but Asayake was his friend. Although he felt confused by all these new feelings, he knew it wasn’t right to think of her any other way now. Besides, they were in the middle of a battle. Hugs could wait for later... or as Tomeo realized, there probably wouldn't be a later. Doubts settled in, and he considered that Asayake had hugged him to show how grateful she was, and nothing else. He shouldn't make anything more out of it, or read into it too much.

After a while he broke the embrace, pulling away from her and stared back into her eyes. "As long as you're okay... we have to go help the others." he reminded her, pulling her to her feet as he stood back on his own. The warmth he had felt ebbed and faded, dissipating and evaporating, and for some strange reason Tomeo wished he was still back in her arms, away from all this. 'Focus, focus...' he told himself. They were all still in very real danger. “Stay close.” he said to her, observing around them for any signs of danger.

"What the-? Lousy..." Leviamon cursed under her breath, unable to believe how Shinzuimon had evaded and escaped her attack. She chased after him as he ran to protect his partner, but kept her distance as Shinzuimon and Enma biomerged into Masuraomon. She cast away her Aqua Sphere, floating through the air towards Tomeo, Asayake and Shogaimon.

"What are you all doing? C'mon, we've got to help the others. We're outnumbered by sheer power enough as it is." she said insensitively, and swam through the air toward Hanabimon. “Hey, are you done picking on defenseless little humans? Let’s show the real competition what we’ve got!” she roared.

***

Divinamon turned away from Eikonmon's return attack, in an attempt to avoid as much damage as possible. The shockwave blast hit her side. She fell to the ground and skidded towards another car, crashing into its side.

This battle was simply an exchange of blows back and forth. Nothing more, and they would keep doing this until one of them dedigivolved. Divinamon knew that they both were fighting for what they believed in strongly. They all were. That's why they kept going. Hanshin's crew wanting to use the key, and Shireika's group wanting to keep the key away from people like Hanshin and his followers. It was a mess, but Divinamon knew they couldn't back down. Not now. Not ever. If they backed down, the whole world could be in trouble.

She pulled herself up and looked over at Eikonmon.

"Why don't you just stop with this?" she inquired. "Don't you realize what kind of danger you're going to put the world into when you put that key back together?"

***

Haganemon caught the full force of Tikutokumon's Gear attack as it leapt in front of Centaurmon by launching itself through the air sideways. The mercurous warrior was hit in face, midriff, and knees by those sparking tooth'd wheels of destruction. It made no sound as it suffered the barrage, but it collapsed to the floor afterward with energy arcing through it. Haganemon lay otionless in the heap it had fallen in.

***

Tegiwa watched in horror as his biomerge form first tried to kill Hanshin (Centaurmon) and then most killed hurt if not killed Naoko (Haganemon). He might be able to justify killing Hanshin, though he doubted that, but Naoko was (ironically) an innocent in this case. She might be helping Hanshin but she possesed none of the fragments. Tegiwa had issues with Naoko, but he'd never live down harming her. He never looked down on her like the others. He supposed they were friends in a wierd way. This was horrible.

Tegiwa's shock left TikuTokumon open to Centuarmon's attack and he suffered from it undefended

***

"In case you haven't noticed," Hanabimon grunted to Leviamon, "I'm tied up at the moment." She continued to struggle while the electric coils shocked her. After many failed attempts, she lost her temper. "That's it, I'm getting these off one way or another. Scorching Cyclone." She started to rapidly spin in mid-air. She was moving faster and faster until she started to gather wind around her and formed a cyclone where she was. The cyclone started to give off small bursts of flame before it suddenly burned like a wild fire.

Inside the cyclone, the flames ate away at the electric ropes around Hanabimon until they snapped and she was free. Hanabimon stopped spinning but the tornado continued on. "Let's see what's outside," she said. She widened the inside of the cyclone and used her power to lift it off of the ground. She looked around and spotted Masuraomon.

Hanabimon glanced back at Leviamon when an idea suddenly came to her. "Leviamon," she shouted through the cyclone, "follow my lead." She widened the inside of the tornado even more, large enough for Leviamon to go through, and hoped she would get the idea. With that done, Hanabimon flew toward Masuraomon with the cyclone/fire tunnel around her.

***

Eikonmon was panting even more after the effort to make another attack. He stared at Divinamon expecting another attack from her. He was surprised when she decided to talk instead. "You think I don't want to stop this fighting either? Huh?" he fired back. "I fought because you attacked me even though I didn't make so much as an insult to you." Ever so slowly, Eikonmon picked himself and walked toward Divinamon. By the looks of his movements, he was tired.

"You only attacked me because I happened to side with your brother; because I was a part of his group and I disagreed with you." He continued his walk toward Divinamon and was now 10 meters away from her. "We still believe that putting together that key is what's suppose to be done; what the right thing to do should be. Deal with it." He stopped moving once he was only a few meters. "I'm allowed my own opinions, my own path, even if they don't match with yours."

Eikonmon expession suddenly changed to surprised then gloomy in less than a second. He looked directly at Divinamon with an expression similar to Shouki's. "Looks like you get your wish." Closing his eyes, his body started to relax then collapse. He was out of energy. Eikonmon fell face first onto the ground. There was a flash of light and all that remained was a beaten Shouki laying on the ground and a tuckered out Reimumon on his side.

***

Leviamon should have been able to free Hanabimon, but she figured the biomerged digimon had enough power to free herself. And besides, she wanted to avoid touching electricity whenever possible, because it could easily conduct through her since she happened to be composed of water.

She heard Hanabimon's request, and calculated instantly where she need to be, filling in the rest of what she figured Hanabimon wanted her to do with guess work. She matched her speed with Hanabimon, then rapidly sped up to get in the path of the tornado and let the mouth of the inferno catch her up, floating just in front of Hanabimon. This way, she wouldn't have to douse Hanabimon with her water. As they approached Masuraomon, she activated her attack.

"Deep Tsunami!" she screamed, turning herself into water, adding to Hanabimon's Scorching Cyclone and creating a double impact of extreme hot and cold. "This time, we can't miss..." she said, seconds before they were about to make impact with Masuraomon.

***

Yuu wasn't quite sure what happened. She had seen the fireballs racing towards her and Tsurumon, and knew that he wouldn't be able to take another hit in his condition. She couldn't let him get hurt anymore. She had to help him get the strength to stand up again. She had to help. And that's when Tsurumon had dissolved into light in front of her.

"Biomerge digivolution!" The light engulfed the two partners completely, soon fading to reveal a single new digimon. Something of a cross between a mermaid and a harpy, he had feathered wing-like arms and an almost draconically long green scaled fish tail. His hair was blue at the roots fading out to white, weirdly like Yuu's, and between his sparse metal and bamboo armor and high-collared white sleeveless shirt he looked almost like a ninja. Holding his narrow naginata spear at his side, Isoramon glanced around the battlefield and saw immediately where he could be of assistance.

He flew as fast as he could towards the immanent attack on Masuraomon by Hanabimon and Leviamon. Knowing he wouldn't reach him in time, he pointed his spear ahead of him and called out an attack of his own. "Mermaid's Forest!" With only moments to spare, three thick spires of sand sprang up between Masuraomon and his attackers, but Isoramon knew they wouldn't be enough to completely halt the double-barreled attack. "Masuraomon, look out!!"

***

Haganemon lay twitching on the floor where it ("he") landed. The silvery metal that it was made of seemed to be flowing to the flow as dozens of rivulets of mercury that pooled on the floor. The purplish lightning cast chaotic images of light and darkness in the mirrored pools as different part of the battle were hilighted.

The giant's body continued to convulse as the stupified Tikutokumon was rammed by Centaurmon's charge and knocked backward. This mechanical man was sent sailing into a nearby wall by the force of the blast, and his mechanical whirring seem to be reduced to an irregular grinding. Tegiwa's mind wasn' t focus on himself but rather the other. "What was I thinking?" The thought echoed horrorically as Haganemon bled from his attacks.

***

Divinamon fell to her knees next to Shouki and placed a hand softly on his head.

"What is supposed to be done," she whispered. Shireika was more present in Divinamon's voice, almost overpowering her digimon partner entirely. "Destiny is not so fixed between the decisions of the Fates and our choices." But there was more to this, more than anyone else knew. It more than a disagreement over a stupid key.

Perhaps it was the complete surrender to destiny, or supposed destiny, that bothered her so much. The Watcher certainly had connections with the fates, or he wouldn't have known who they all were, but that was no reason to follow exactly what fate wanted. Fate was never set in stone. It was merely...well, she didn't know really what it was. It was something that was always there but never there.

This was what underlay everything: their belief on fate and their role in the destiny of the universe. And this stupid key was the manifestion of it all.

Well, at least it was for her.

What would they do if they actually had to use the key?

She looked around at the insuing battle around her, seeing Tikutokumon get thrashed by Centaurmon. She could see Haganemon weakened by a powerful attack from Tikutokumon. Enma and Yuu had digivolved to biomerge. They were outnumbered again.

With one flap of her black wings, she zoomed across the parking lot towards Isoramon. As she flew through the air by the new biomerge digimon, she swiped a punch at the digimon. She came to a halt by Tomeo and Asayake.

"We need you," she said commandingly. She didn't have time to explain. She knew she didn't have the strength left in her to take on Isoramon or Masuraomon on her own. She needed Asayake and Tomeo to help Hanabimon. This was their chance to do it, before Centaurmon and Haganemon came as backup. She jumped into the air and closed her wings around her. She hoped she had the strength in her to do this. "Shadow Spawning!" she called as she spread her wings. Another set of shadow birds emerged from her wings, aiming for Isoramon.

***

Centaurmon caught his breath when he landed on the ground a few feet away from Tikutokumon. He glanced back at Haganemon, seeing his comrade fallen and bleeding. He was tired, ready to just collapse, but this wasn't over. He pointed his spear right at Tikutokumon as he walked up to the convulsing robot.

"I don't understand what the hell is your problem," he muttered softly. "What did my sister get you to believe? Do you honestly believe it too? I'm not a monster, and I don't desire this power to do whatever I want. I'm just trying to do the right thing, and as always, my sister thinks it's her job to prove me wrong just because she can. Well, no one is stopping me anymore. Do you hear me?"

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