Argetlahm Adventures, chapters 9-16. Chapters are titled as follows: 


 9. MISSION #3 - The Siege of New Guldove 
 10. Encounters of the Sixth Kind 
 11. Daiyako? Tayako? ULTIYAKO?!? 
 12. MISSION #4 - Veemon's Vengeance 
 13. The Let's-Fight-For-No-Reason Chapter 
 14. Capture the Flag... we hope 
 15. The Beginning of the End 
 16. MISSION #5 - Cannonball Run 





 A/N - Hey everybody, Keyvan here! This is my first entry in HTML format, so
 if anything is screwed up in the formatting, drop me a line and tell me, and
 I'll try to fix it. Thanx) 










 Argetlahm War Room 
 Day 7, 7:34 PM 



 "Everybody!" Ultimanium bellowed. "To the war room! Now!" 

 As soon as everybody heard the beckoning message blast over the intercom,
 they all dropped what they were doing and made their way to the war room as
 fast as their feet would take them. They all quickly leaped into their seats
 and awaited further instructions. 

 The hologram projector lit up, and the three demigods phased onstage. 

 "Greetings, Heroes. I'm glad you could make it here post haste," Ultimanium
 barked. "We have a Red Alert going on, so I'm going to make this briefing
 short and sweet." 

 The holographic lit up to show a topographical map. This one, however, was
 not one of Magnopolis or any construction facility. The picture showed a
 small city carved into the side of a mesa bordering the ocean. 

 Magnus hopped forward. "You are looking at the city of New Guldove, a
 settlement a short ways off the shore of the continent of Magnopolis." 

 Kid jumped up. "Guldove?! It exists in the third dimension?!" 

 Magnus nodded. "Very much so. However, it was destroyed several years ago in
 a civil war of the denizens of that continent. New Guldove was build in its
 place. As Kid suggests, the Chrono crew did in fact visit Guldove at some
 point, but that was in the fifth dimension, one vastly different from the
 one we speak of now." 

 Lord Raul turned to the map. "New Guldove is situated on a massive reserve
 of iron ore. The civil war fought there years back in the third dimension
 was for this metal. New Guldove nowadays fights off attacks from
 Ultramagnus' forces, them trying to seize control of Guldove and its metal
 reserves. While they have been holding off attacks for several months now,
 they are beginning to outgrow Guldove's defensive capabilities." 

 "Ultramagnus has ordered a large naval fleet to attack New Guldove,"
 Ultimanium said. "You all will go down there and assist in the defense of
 Guldove until the attack subsides. The fleets will arrive in Guldove coastal
 territory in approximately 5 hours. In half an hour, we will be dropping you
 into Guldove area, and you will do what you must to see that Guldove remains
 standing by the end of the night." 

 Tai shrugged. "Easy enough. C'mon guys, let's go." 

 "NO." Ultimanium boomed, making everyone fall back into their seats. "There
 is further I must say. Our last mission was a complete disaster, and it
 nearly costed many of our crewmates' sanities. Know that if any of you mess
 up major on any large mission here on in, you'll be sent home in a doggy
 bag. Understood?" 

 Everybody nodded nervously. 

 Ultimanium shook his head. "It's not like I want to kill you. I know you are
 this dimension's last hope, and I will help you in any way that I see able.
 You will not be able to take the attack fleet as you are, so I will need to
 grant you more power." 




 ******** 


 Conker, Goku, Gohan and Vegeta stepped into the training gym. 

 "...eh... Ulty?" Conker whimpered. 

 Vegeta folded his arms. "If I am not granted true power someone will suffer
 dearly." 

 "Hey, everybody," Ultimanium sung over the loudspeaker. "Look ahead of you.
 You should see a large concrete tank with some green stuff in it." 

 Goku looked up at the celing, hoping to find the speaker. "And?" 

 "I'll be opening it up in a couple of seconds. This is the ship's reserve
 battle energy stores, essentially a tank of Ki-boosting liquid. I saturated
 a large amount of raw Ki into a resovoir of green-apple flavored Gatorade
 and stored it here; had I stored plain Ki in it the case would not have been
 able to contain it. Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, you will all have unlimited access
 to this Ki as you see fit." 

 Conker sulked. "What about me?" 

 "There's a gallon bucket next to the Ki storage. Do you see it?" 

 Conker glanced at the small plastic bucket on a bench near the Ki storage.
 "...yeah. What about it?" 

 "You will get that much Ki. 500 units. No more, no less." 

 "That's it?!" Conker growled. 

 "You have to be careful not to abuse Ki energy, Conker. Ki can be a very
 dangerous thing to the uninitiated. I will only be giving you a small amount
 of it for now, at least until I can see the effects it has on you. Goku,
 Gohan, Vegeta are all trained in the arts of Ki. Perhaps they will be able
 to help you understand it." 

 Conker looked nervously at the group. ".. you guys use Ki?" 

 Gohan nodded. "Every day. We focus Ki to use our energy beams." 

 The loudspeaker crackled again. "Ki, asides from enhancing the psychic
 abilities of a person, greatly enhances their strength and dexterity. Matrix
 style movement and strength." 

 Conker sighed. "Been there, done that." 

 "....supersonic travel on your feet?" 

 Conker lit up. "Heh...I suppose I could get used to this Ki stuff..." 

 Ultimanium tapped a button on the bridge. "....funny... there's only 499,994
 units here... must've been a leak somewhere.. oh well. The doors are
 opening... now." 

 The glass panel on the tank slid open, and everyone beared down to drink
 their fill. 


 ******** 


 Lord Raul tapped Serge's shoulder. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?" 

 Serge blinked. "Uh.. sure. Why?" 

 In a blink of an eye, Raul snapped behind Serge and yanked the Mastermune
 out of his surprised hands. 

 Serge swung his empty hands in front of him. "H-hey!" 

 Raul bowed and held the Mastermune in place in front of him. Serge watched
 in confusion. Raul closed his eyes and started humming mystic wording under
 his breath. Serge blinked again to find himself awash in a green light that
 subsided as he realized what was going on. Raul reached back and caught the
 Mastermune that fell out of the air. Or, both, if you want to be specific. 

 Serge looked back and forth between Raul's hands. In each he held perfect
 copies of the Mastermune. Raul, in a single swift motion, brought both
 swallows up, and fused them together at the centers of the handles with a
 blast of magic energy. 

 Serge pointed. "H-ho-how.." he stammered. 

 "Simple Additive Magic," Raul laughed. "Using just the most basic of the
 branches of Additive Magic, I can replicate anything before me, as well as
 bring things out of memory into reality... even enchantments like on your
 Mastermune here can be copied. Enchantments. Hey, that's a good idea..." 

 Raul bowed again, bringing the crossed Mastermunes with him. After a minute
 of hard concentrating, the four blades of the dual Mastermune erupted in
 different color flames - red, blue, yellow, green. He handed it back to
 Serge, still with a shocked expression on his face. "All done. Different
 elemental alignments on each blade. For identification purposes, I call it
 the Tetra Weapon. Have fun on your little sentry duty, and say hi to Takeru
 for me." Without as much as a word, Raul turned on his heel and marched down
 the hall, disappearing into thin air. 

 Serge held the Tetra Weapon up. "....cool..." 


 ******** 


 The Digidestined still continued on conversation. Veemon turned in his seat
 to see Ultimanium's head poked in the doorway, Ultimanium gesturing Veemon
 out of the war room. 

 Veemon hopped down and waddled out. He looked both ways down the hall to
 find nobody. "...Ulty?" 

 Ultimanium dove down from the celing and drove a needle into Veemon's back. 

 "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOWWWW!!!! ULTY!!! NOW WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?" Veemon
 squealed, holding the rupture on his back. Ultimanium walked up slowly and
 applied some hydrogen peroxide on the welt. "Give it some time, Veemon.
 You'll be thankful I did this." 


 ******** 


 All the heroes formed up quickly in the hangar. The three overseers walked
 up in front of them and stood with their hands behind their backs. 

 "You will be dropped down into Guldove territory shortly. For this mission,
 Magnus will accompany you, acting for artillery purposes. You rest of you
 will defend the shores of New Guldove from any landing forces. Do not worry
 if you miss some people, only attack those you think you will be able to
 defeat. The Guldove defense forces will be able to handle any androids you
 miss. Understood?" 

 No more was said. Everybody filed into the dropship and it rocketed out into
 one-dimensional space, shifting away from the darkness into the bright
 spectrum of the fifth dimension without so much as a jolt. 











 MISSION #3 - Siege of New Guldove 

 Help defend the shores of New Guldove from Ultramagnus' incoming fleet. Keep
 lethal force directed out into the open. Guldove special forces will handle
 any androids that make it into the city. Danger is defined under Defcon 3. 

 Among the fleet is 30 destroyers, 10 carriers, and three battlecruisers, as
 well as several troop transports. ARGETLAHM TEAM will defend against any
 android assaults as well as any warships that stray medium distance to the
 shore. MAGNUS will stay at a highpoint on Guldove Mesa and launch long range
 attacks against the warships. 

 Good luck. 










 Kid set her foot down onto the rickety wooden dock and looked around at the
 timber shacks placed randomly around the makeshift ocean platform. "Can't
 say Guldove's changed much." 

 Serge froze, his vision arced up. "Then I guess you haven't looked up." 

 Everybody glanced up at the massive towers that loomed over them. A full
 sized city was constructed and situated a little ways up the mesa from the
 original Guldove dock, much of it sharing the futuristic design of
 Magnopolis. However, this city was in far greater shape than Ultramagnus'
 adobe. Further down the beach, away from the wooden platform several
 makeshift bunkers were set up, with large guns placed on them. New Guldove
 was apparently expecting an assault but it didn't seem they could get the
 resources necessary to defend. 

 "We've already cleared things up with Guldove's elder," Magnus explained.
 "All we need to do is set up on the beach. I will be fighting from the mesa
 up there." Magnus pointed upwards at a large cliff that extended over top of
 the metropolis, carved into the mesa. 

 "So all we do is go down to the beach and watch for ships?" Goku asked.,
 brushing back his black spiky hair. 

 Magnus shook his head. "It's not as simple as you think, Goku. When
 Ultramagnus' forces come, they're going to come hot and heavy. Get in as
 defensive positions as you can. Keep in mind that if anybody leaves their
 position, they are most definately going to be SWEPT AWAY. Understood?" 

 Everybody nodded, reluctantly. 

 Magnus rubbed his hands. "Great. Everybody get forted up, the rush is going
 to come in approximately half an hour and we have to be prepared as
 possible. I would suggest dividing into 4 groups to take different sides of
 the beachhead." 




 WEST BUNKER AREA 


 Davis 
 Veemon 
 Cody 
 Armadillomon 
 Kari 
 Gatomon 


 EAST BUNKER AREA 


 Cloud 
 Serge 
 Conker 
 Rodent 
 Berri 
 Izzy 
 Tentomon 


 NORTH BUNKER AREA 


 Tai 
 Agumon 
 TK 
 Patamon 
 Squall 
 Karsh 
 Kid 


 SOUTH BUNKER AREA 


 Goku 
 Vegeta 
 Gohan 




 Gohan scratched his head. "We have a wall missing out of our bunker." 

 Magnus nodded. "You're the ones with all the long range energy attacks, so
 you get first hit on any ships inbound. If you didn't have a wall there, the
 feedback from your Ki blasts would kill you. And don't feel reluctant to use
 your most powerful attacks, either. There are no major islands in El Nido in
 that direction." 

 Serge stepped up. "There's Gaea's Navel." 

 Magnus smirked. "Nothing's going to bring THAT island down. Anyways, we're
 running out of time. I'll head up to the cliff, you guys get comfortable in
 your bunkers. See you in a couple of hours." 

 TK sweatdropped. "Couple of hours...?" 


 ******** 


 Kid threw open the door. "What are these bunkers like, anyways?" She peered
 cautiously around the cabin, half buried in the sand around it. A line of
 cots ran along the wall to the right of Kid. There was a small table in the
 corner with a radio on it, and several small chairs. Over against the
 slit-like window facing out to the beach, mounted energy blasters stuck out.



 ******** 


 Davis looked around. "The place is pretty roomy. There should be enough room
 in here for everybody to digivolve." 

 Gatomon grasped the trigger of a blaster, but let go and stepped back. "I
 never was too wieldy with guns, anyways. Kari needs to use one though." 

 Veemon stared from his seat at the energy blaster ahead of him. It beckoned
 him onward. Slowly, he got up from his seat and made his way over to it and
 grasped its heavy handle. "...it's a gun." 

 "We were quite aware of that, thank you," Armadillomon groaned. "Get over
 here, we need to digivolve you." 

 Veemon whipped around. "Davish!" he said in an sickeningly sweet tone. "Can
 I use one instead? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" 

 "Er.." Davis stammered. "It would be better if you could digivolve.. but I
 don't see any harm in it." I'm making a mistake here, Davis thought to
 himself. 

 "Yeeeeah!!" Veemon wailed. Quickly, he drug a chair over to the large
 cannon, leaped up and yanked hard on the trigger, sending a concentrated
 blast of light out to the shoreline. 





 ******** 





 "Master," Minonim buzzed. "Your assault fleet is beginning to enter New
 Guldove territory... any.. orders?..." 

 Ultramagnus turned in his swivel chair, with an angry frown on his face.
 "What the hell is wrong with you, Minonim?!" 

 "I don't possibly know what you're talking about, sir," Minonim chirped. 

 Ultramagnus slammed his fist down on the table. "You know what I'm talking
 about!! I apparently need to give a shit about my workers' 'emotional
 concerns' to get a damn confident word out of them! And if my workers aren't
 confident, they're not operating at full capacity! I need to wipe Ultimanium
 clean before him and his little shitheads get the upper hand on this war!
 TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG!!" 

 Minonim straightened himself. "... I don't know why you have to bomb out New
 Guldove, that's all." 

 Ultramagnus grit his teeth, growling at Minonim. "Why? Why?! That hick town
 full of half-employed fishing freaks, situated in El Nido, contains one of
 the largest iron ore stores remaining on the surface of third-dimensional
 earth! That's ore that can be used to build androids! Androids to flush that
 ass Ultimanium out! Do you need any more 'reason'?!" 

 "I just don't think the people of Guldove deserve that." Minonim whipered. 

 Ultramagnus, struggling to contain his fit of rage, threw his chair back
 around and stared down on the city beneath him. "Just fucking peachy. The
 one connection I have with my troops has a conscience. And to think I
 trusted you with my orders." 

 Minonim lit up. "Y-you trusted me?" 

 "Not anymore," Ultramagnus barked. He turned and spoke into the microphone
 embedded into his desk. "Security? Come and remove our little friend Minonim
 for me. Make sure he doesn't leave the palace prison for as long as he
 lives." 

 "W-WHAT?! ULTRAMAGNUS!!" 

 An android lept in through the doors and fired a stun bolt into the office,
 striking Minonim and sending a wave of EMP lightning over his body. The
 probe body of Minonim hit the ground with a heavy clank as Minonim began
 losing his energy. The android hefted the probe over his shoulder and
 marched out, shutting the office door behind him. 

 Ultramagnus smirked to himself. He turned back to the microphone. "Could I
 get you guys to build me a new assistant probe?" 

 "Sure," A robotic voice hummed. "Anything else, master?" 

 Ultramagnus turned to the window. "Get the Guldove assault fleet attacking."







 ******** 




 Conker flexed his arms. "This feels funny." 

 "You're telling me," Cloud sighed. He peered out from the bunker onto the
 open ocean ahead of them. "I wish these guys would attack and get it over
 with. Hey, Serge, you still got your Tetra Weapon here?" 

 Serge held up the battlestar. "Sure do. Why?" 

 Berri sat down. "Well, if Ultramagnus' forces do swarm us like Magnus
 insists, they'll probably bust into our bunkers at some point. We need
 somekind of melee defense." 

 Conker shook his head. "No, not that. I mean I feel funny." 

 "I don't think we're in the mood for jokes." Izzy sighed. 

 "No, no, no! I feel funny... I'm stronger..." Conker reached over, grabbing
 a chair, and suspended it on his index finger. 

 Cloud rubbed his chin. "Hmm... funny..." 


 ******** 


 Goku looked up at the horizon. "...guys..." 

 Vegeta got up from his chair. "What's going on?" 

 Gohan gulped. "I think we have company." 


 ******** 






 The captain stood on the deck, looking out to New Guldove ahead of him. A
 sailor trudged up to him, saluting. "Sir! We have Guldove in sight and all
 weapons preperations have been made. Commence assault?" 

 The captain folded his arms. "Commence assault." 

 The troop transports rocketed ahead of the battlecruiser the captain was
 stationed on and screamed onward to the Guldove beach. 



 ******** 


 Magnus sat up. "...yeah. Attack." he went up in a fight stance and began
 concentrating. After a minute or so of silence, Magnus yelled out a war cry
 and launched a wave of Ki blasts at the oceanfront down ahead of him. 


 ******** 


 Gohan, Goku and Vegeta all leant back and shot multiple Ki blasts forward,
 impacting against the hulls of the faroff destroyers. 2 tipped over. 


 ******** 


 8 troop transports all lined up against the Guldove shore and all let off 30
 androids each, which began charging up the shore breakless after departure. 

 "Incoming!!" Tai yelled. "Agumon! Let's do this!!" 

 Agumon nodded. "Gotcha." He ran outside the bunker, and hopped up the stairs
 leading to the ground level. 

 Agumon.... warp digivolve to... 
 WARGREYMON!! 

 Wargreymon lunged forward past the remaining bunkers and slashed through a
 group of androids, shredding 10 of them. The east and west bunkers began
 unloading with their energy blasters, bursts of light impacting against the
 ground and androids sending them crashing to the ground, and any that didn't
 flying. 


 ******** 


 "Yeeeeeehawwwww!!" Veemon wailed. 

 Gatomon grinned. "I've got my own explosive projectiles, thank you very
 much." 

 Gatomon... digivolve to... 
 ANGEWOMON!! 

 "Celestial Arrow!!" 

 A pink-white projectile sailed into the fray and erupted in a fazing white
 explosion in the center of the arranged bunkers. Still, however, countless
 soldier robots fought their way up the sand ramp leading into Guldove. 

 Cody let loose another shot. "We're not exactly getting enough projectiles
 out there! Armadillomon!!" 

 Armadillomon... armor digivolve to... 
 DIGMON!! 

 "Gold Rush!!" 

 A wave of drill bits sailed out through the opening and plowed through
 several more androids. A shell landed outside the west bunker, exploding and
 sending a couple more androids down. 


 ******** 


 "Damn it!" Magnus yelled. "The ships are getting too close! I have to do
 something about them!" He began charging again. "...KAMEEEE...." 


 ******** 


 Rodent squeezed off another shot. "We can't stay here much longer if the
 cruisers are bombing us! We have to fight somewhere else!" 

 "We can't leave!" Berri shouted. "You heard what Magnus said! If we leave
 we'll be swarmed!" 

 Without warning, Rodent dismounted his energy blaster from its emplacement
 and dove outside with it, hauling it up the stairs with him. He climbed on
 top of the bunker and began raining death from there. 


 ******** 


 "....HAAAAAMEEEEE...." 


 ******** 


 Goku stopped his concentration to bash down an android that had attempted to
 gain initiative on him. "I can't believe this! There's too many of them!!" 

 Vegeta threw another soldier to the ground, and turned to Goku with a
 strange smile on his face. "Relax, Kakarot. I have things under control." He
 threw his hands above his head and began to collect his Ki from there -
 however, some very familiar bolts of energy orbited it. "Child! Hold the
 androids off with your father while I charge!!" 

 Gohan sweatdropped. "No way... he's not..." 


 ******** 


 Davis turned, shocked. "Guys... we're not holding them off any better..." He
 quickly snatched his Buster Sword off the chair ahead of him and held it at
 his side, ready for an intrusion. 

 "There's too many of them getting around us!" Kari yelled. "They're going to
 get in here if we don't do something!" 

 Angewomon quickly dedigivolved. Gatomon and Davis turned to see the door
 burst open and a pair of androids dive through. 

 "Lightning Claw!!" Gatomon yelped. She dove at an android and lopped its
 head clean off. Davis charged at the other stunned android and drove the
 Buster Sword deep through its chest. 


 ******** 


 "....HAAAAAAA!!!" The energy exploded around Magnus. "Let's see how you
 people like a Renzokamehameha upside the head!!!" Magnus threw his arms
 infront of him to parry the energy and divide it. With a lightning fast arm,
 Magnus swung both hands in front of him and locked them together, unleashing
 the 8-Kamehameha attack. The bolts of raw Ki tore through the air, down
 along the ocean before tearing through several cruisers, making them sink
 nearly instantaneously. 


 ******** 


 Tai leaped from the celing of the bunker and cross-slashed another android
 across the chest. He spun around with the dual Ultima Weapon blades and
 pierced another robot's defense. Wargreymon hovered up to Tai. 

 "Tai!" Wargreymon bellowed. "You can't be out here! It's too dangerous!!" 

 "Reeeeelax," Tai laughed. "We have our friends Ultima and Weapon here." 

 Wargreymon spun around Tai and brought a heavy iron fist down on another
 android that was sneaking up behind him. "Shut it, Tai! You shouldn't be out
 here!" 

 "The androids are getting too close to Guldove!" Kid yelled, crossing
 another dagger over a robot's face. "We have to do some desperate things!" 


 ******** 


 Magnus smirked as he eyed the burning wreckages of the multiple cruisers.
 When his vision turned down onto the beachhead, his pleasure didn't last
 long. To his horror, more than half of the Argetlahm crew was fighting
 outside of the bunkers - very viable targets for a cruiser shell. He glanced
 nervously at the other end of the beach, where several androids each second
 plowed through the gates of New Guldove. In a fix, he dove quickly down from
 his vantage point and flew down to the Guldove entrance. "Guys! What are you
 doing?!" 

 Gatomon sat on Davis' shoulder, and lept off at an android, slashing off its
 arm. "What does it look like?" 

 "Everybody! Out of your bunkers!" Magnus yelled. 10 more transports docked
 at the other end of the beach, with soldiers in each of them. As everybody
 remaining in the bunkers struggled valiantly to fight them off, a good 200
 androids were making their way up the beach. They were clearly unstoppable.
 As everybody turned to defend themselves, they were rushed by the androids,
 tearing away with lasers, punching, kicking, and otherwise plowing through
 everybody to get to Guldove. Davis was toppled, sending him and Gatomon to
 the ground. 

 "Kari!!" Gatomon yelled, being carried away in the rush of androids. 

 Veemon's eyes grew wide. "G-Gatomon?! Gatomon!!" He dropped his laser where
 it was and plowed out of the bunker into the impending crowd of androids.
 Veemon caught sight of Davis and screeched to a halt. "Davis! Davis! Where's
 Gatomon?!" 

 Davis stumbled to his feet. "Gatomon got carried away with those androids! I
 can't see her from here!" 

 Veemon threw his foot down. "I have to find her!! Davis, help me out here!!"


 Veemon... digivolve to.... 
 EXVEEMON!! 

 Exveemon hovered up above the crowd as fast as he could and looked over the
 charging parade of invaders frantically. "Gatomon...? GATOMON!!" Exveemon
 dove forward in the air into Guldove. The Guldove special forces were
 already in action, fighting off androids all over the place. 

 Serge lept into the fray swinging the Tetra Weapon like mad. A glowing red
 blade came in contact with the frail android ahead of him, enveloping him in
 flame. As Serge nailed various androids with the different flamed-blades of
 the Tetra Weapon, the rage of the elements was clearly coming into action.
 The sheer impact of the yellow flamed blade against its adversary shook the
 ground beneath it. Just swinging the green blade was enough to blow a squad
 of androids away. 


 ******** 


 Goku backed up as the androids beared down on his bunker group. "Eh...
 Vegeta... you done there yet?" 

 Vegeta blinked. "Sure am," he slowly brought his hands down in front of him,
 carrying the raging ball of Ki with them. Electric bolts arced all over the
 huge ball of psychic energy. "Damn androids!! You wish to feel the true fury
 of the Saiyan race?! I would be more than happy to share it with you!!!!" 

 "FINAL FLASH!!" 

 A gigantic beam of energy tore down the seashore, punching straight through
 all three battlecruisers, carrying on, going through 8 destroyers and 5
 cruisers, and blowing Gaea's Navel to shreds. 

 "Vegeta, you ass!" Karsh scowled. "Now look what you did!!" 

 Goku, Gohan and Vegeta turned to see Karsh standing at the edge of the
 bunker. 

 Vegeta stepped forward and pointed. "Like hell YOU did anything
 beneficial!!" 

 "I don't destroy natural wonders!!" 


 ******** 


 "GATOMON!!" Kari yelled, above the clashes and clangs that echoed throughout
 the main square of New Guldove. The entire square was packed with soldiers
 and androids going at it, swords, guns. There was no empty space to stand
 in. "Exveemon, did you see her?" 

 Exveemon looked up to Kari on his shoulder. "I want to find her as much as
 you do! C'mon, she's gotta be around here somewhere!" 


 ******** 


 Everybody charged through the Guldove gates and thew them closed behind
 them. "Kari! TK! Cody!!" Davis yelled. "We have to get out of here! Another
 15 transports landed at the beach!! We'll never last through it all!!" 

 Goku threw another android to Magnus while beating off another with his
 spare hand. Magnus drove a fist through the android and tossed it to his
 side. "There's no way we'll be able to beat all of these androids alone! We
 have to get out of here, NOW! Ultimanium!! Beam us aboard!!" 

 Conker punched an android down on the ground in the face repeatedly. "But
 we're not all accounted for!!" 

 Magnus looked around at the mayhem around him. "Everyone's here.. except
 for..." 

 "GATOMON!!" Exveemon bellowed. 

 "We have no time to worry about Gatomon!!" Kid yelled. "We have to get out
 of here before we lose everybody!!" 

 Kari whipped around to Kid. "I...I'm not leaving without Gatomon!!" 

 Karsh grabbed Kari's arms and held them behind her back. "Sorry, ma'am, but
 we have to get out of here." 

 Exveemon grabbed Karsh by the collar. "YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS!!!" 




 Magnus shook his head. "...Guldove is hopeless.." 

 The beam roared down and brought all the crew back up. Guldove was doomed. 














 ******** 


 Ultimanium brought his hands down on the mess hall table. "I'M TIRED OF
 LOSING!!" 

 Everybody looked at him fearfully. 

 Ultimanium pointed harshly. "I said I didn't want anything like this to
 happen again, and I meant it. Ultramagnus is probably laughing his head off
 at you guys right now! As much as I want to kill you all right now, I
 realize I can't... you all are our last hope, need I say it again. Screw up
 again, friends, and you'll all be seeing my ANGRY side. Get out of here." 

 Everybody scattered out the door... except for Veemon, sitting at the center
 of the table. 

 Ultimanium turned around. "What do you want?" 

 Veemon stared at the table ahead of him, and let out a stifled sob. 

 Ultimanium frowned. "I didn't mean to speak so harshly..." 

 Veemon bowed his head. "..It's not that.." 

 Ultimanium took a seat across from him. "Tell me what's wrong. Bunkmates
 getting hostile on you?" 

 Veemon remained still. "...no...." he murmured. "..you wouldn't..
 understand..." 

 Ultimanium grit his teeth. "...what happened down there?" 

 Veemon closed his eyes. "...it was Gatomon." 

 Ultimanium looked down at the table. "...Gatomon. I know... I'm sorry for
 what happened down there. I should've been helping out." 

 Veemon shook his head. "No.. it wasn't that.. this is all my fault. I
 should've digivolved and helped out everyone else instead of taking a
 position on the turrets. I could have prevented this whole thing... I..."
 Veemon drooped again, hiding his face from view. A tear dropped against the
 polished table. 

 "It wasn't your fault, Veemon." 

 Veemon turned in his chair to find Davis standing at the door. "....Davis?" 

 Davis took a seat next to Veemon. "Veemon, quit talking about yourself like
 that. You did what you could - I'm kinda jealous, actually." 

 Veemon gazed at Davis. "...huh?" 

 Davis leaned back in his chair. "That kinda got me thinking. You just dove
 into the fray, arms flailing.. you were willing to do what you had to, put
 your life on the line if it meant finding Gatomon. ... I wish I could do the
 same for Kari, but... well, you see how she acts now.. I had a thing going
 and I just wasted it," He placed a reassuring hand on Veemon's shoulder.
 "Don't worry about it, Vee. We'll find Gatomon." 

 Veemon looked at Davis with relivened eyes. "..you..you mean it?" 

 "Of course we'll find her," Ultimanium said. "We all have our personal
 grudge against Ultramagnus. You've just found yours. He'll pay yet. We'll
 find Gatomon, even if it takes us months. You're part of the group, Veemon,
 just like everyone else." 

 Veemon sat up. "....thanks." 

 Ultimanium waved. "No prob. If you ever have to talk, I'll be on the bridge,
 making useless adjustments to the Argetlahm. See you around." With that, he
 phased out of his chair and disappeared. 

 Davis and Veemon looked at each other. Davis grinned. "Geez, lighten up." He
 turned on his heel and strided out of the mess hall. 

 Veemon stared after Davis until he finally disappeared. He turned his vision
 straight forward and smiled to himself. He was going to march straight down
 to the rec room and remember Gatomon. 



 And he was going to practice up on Quake 3 for the day she returned. 











 Ahh... Veemon's a bit relieved... but, what really happened to Gatomon? What
 is next for the Argetlahm crew? Find out on the next Argetlahm Adventures! 




 END OF CHAPTER 9 









 Argetlahm Mess Hall 
 Day 11, 7:45 AM 



 Ultimanium dipped into his Fruit Loops once more. He slowly looked up at the
 table of people eating different cereals. Vector for Davis. Corn Flakes for
 Serge. Frosted Flakes for Conker. Raisin Bran for Berri. It was surprising
 how much attention Ultimanium paid his friends' individual tastes. Oh, well.
 You gotta pamper 'em somewhat to turn them into fighting machines.
 Ultimanium spooned up another mouthful of Fruit Loops. 

 TK and Lord Raul sat at a table opposite Ultimanium's. They both looked
 disgusted at the large, tall glass of green juice Goku was having alongside
 his cereal. 

 "...eh... Goku..." TK mumbled. "..what is that?" 

 Goku held up the glass before he took a sip from it. "Ki. Breakfast of
 champions." 

 TK shook his head. "..whatever." 

 Raul stood from his chair. "Could I get everybody over here for a second?" 

 Everybody stood from their various cereals and went over to Raul's table,
 curious to his wares. 

 Raul glanced around at his audience. "Alright, we've got some customers
 here. Alright. Serge, I crafted a weapon for you called the Tetra Weapon.
 Many of you saw it in action during our mission down in Guldove... or what
 USED to be Guldove." 

 The group sulked in unison. 

 "I crafted that weapon for Serge because it was part of Ultimanium's plan,
 to introduce a power to each group. Ulty, however, isn't giving out more
 than one power to a group, because that is far as his reach will go. That's
 where I come in," Raul grunted, and hefted a massive catalogue onto the
 table, dropping it with a massive thud. "I intend to make my services of
 granting power available to the public. In this catalogue I have designs for
 every single mystical weapon in existence, at least ones that I can
 replicate including its enchantments." 

 Karsh flipped through the pages. "...Excalibur...
 Ragnarok...Mjolinoir....Azurewrath... I don't know if I could find anything
 in here that could replace something like my axe." 

 "Or my Buster Sword." Davis added. 

 "Or the Ultima Weapon." Tai interupted. 

 Raul looked around at the gathered group. "Still, I imagine there are some
 groups around here that wouldn't mind a good weapon to fight with, right?" 

 Veemon bounded into the group. "You bet!!" 








 Everybody stared at him. 

 Veemon scanned through the pages. "....Ragnarok! Hey, that one looks pretty
 cool! Can I get that?!" 

 "He's awfully perky today," Kid whispered into Davis' ear. 

 Davis smiled. That's better, he thought. At least HE'S back to normal. 


 Raul grinned. "That'll be $499.95." 

 Everybody's jaw dropped. A collective "huh?" radiated out from the crowd. 

 "Out of curiosity..." Kid sighed. "If you want us to win so bad, why are you
 charging us for your weapons?" 

 Raul leaned back. "Hello? Additive Magic really takes a lot out of a person.
 It would be nice if I could get SOME recognition of my services. Pay up or
 go find your OWN magic weapons at some altar or temple or something
 somewhere. If you intend on finding your own, good luck." 

 Cloud leaned over the table. "Even if we WANTED to buy something, where
 would we get the money?" 

 Raul stood up. "That's a very good question. If you ever find money, come
 back to me and I'll set you up." He picked up the catalogue and it
 disintegrated into his hands. 

 Everybody turned around in disgust and went back to their cereal. Goku went
 back to drinking his green... stuff. Everybody, in general, just ignored
 Lord Raul and his capitalist advances on the group. However... one within
 the group... TK... was intent on getting a sword of his own. 

 Your days of being hip are numbered, Davis, TK thought to himself. 

























 Gatomon opened her eyes slowly, her eyelids crashing down every couple of
 seconds from the extreme pain. As she squinted and attempted to regain her
 eyesight, she heard a door slam behind her. She attempted to turn around in
 her seat, but something stopped her. "Who...who's there?!" 

 "Oh... just a friend." 

 A dark shadowy figure latched his greasy hands onto the back of Gatomon's
 chair and turned it around. Gatomon finally recollected herself and peered
 up at the dark man above her. 

 He grinned. "Nice to see you're awake, Gatomon." 

 Gatomon squirmed in the ropes she was bound in. "I asked you a question!" 

 The lights in the room turned on. Gatomon glanced up to see a very angry
 Super Saiyan standing before her. "I'm asking the questions, here, bitch!"
 Ultramagnus threw his hand across Gatomon's face, sending her and the chair
 sliding across the ground a short distance. Gatomon yelped as the chair came
 to a stop. 

 Gatomon swung her head back up, a bruise forming on her face, next to an
 outraged expression. "Who are YOU to think you can bound me like this?!"
 With surprising strength, Gatomon reached out and busted most of the ropes
 around her, and dove at Ultramagnus. "Lightning Claw!!" 

 She didn't get very far before she realized she was being suspended in
 midair. "Wha...!" 

 Ultramagnus laughed to himself. "No one does that to me." With an aggressive
 gesture, Ultramagnus threw his hands back forward, tossing Gatomon back into
 her chair. "You probably don't know me. I, Ultramagnus, the ruler of the
 third dimension." 

 "No you aren't! Magnus is!" 

 Ultramagnus' eyes glowed a deep green. "Don't give me that, if you value
 your life any. Now, do you know why you're down here in my sanctum?" 

 Gatomon bowed her head. "You're an ass." 

 Ultramagnus bent down and propped Gatomon's chin up. "Now, please, I don't
 expect that from a digimon like you." 

 "Lightning Claw!!!" 

 In a blink of an eye, Gatomon lashed out and slashed Ultramagnus across the
 face. Ultramagnus remained still. "I am not amused." 

 Ultramagnus backed away as a forcefield rained down from the celing and set
 itself up around Gatomon. "Given your little disciplinary problem, I'm
 afraid I'll have to lock you away until I REALLY need you. Now, be a good
 kitty and shaddup." 

 Gatomon looked around her. Frustrated, she threw a punch at the turquoise
 barrier around her, giving her a small shock. She wasn't about to get out of
 there anytime soon. 

 Ultramagnus strided back to his desk and dropped silently into his chair,
 propping his feet up on his desk. "Don't worry. I'm sure your friends will
 come for you. That'll give you at least one last chance to talk to them!"
 Ultramagnus let loose a horrendous laugh. 









 ******** 





 Raul punched the equation into his terminal once more and analyzed it. Hmm,
 he thought. That isn't right. 

 TK lied on his bunk, reading a novel. He placed it down and swiveled his
 head across his mattress to see the lit-up computer terminal over Raul's
 shoulder. "...hey, Raul. Whatcha up to?" 

 Raul rubbed his chin, his other hand dancing over the keyboard in front of
 him. "Just some odd jobs for Ulty." 

 TK was already up off his bunk and watching the action from over top of Lord
 Raul. "...dimension anolomy analyzed... wait a minute, the date on that
 entry is from 4 days ago! These are the equations for the paradox the
 Argetlahm went through, right?"(A/N - Chapter 7) 

 "Observant, Takeru," Raul said, some mystery in his voice. "If I explained
 it to you, do you believe you could understand it?" 

 TK shrugged. "You could try." 

 Raul looked over his shoulder. "Alright. It goes like this. In the center of
 the equation we used to determine the level of dimensional disruption
 generated by the paradox, a single digit indicates the area/volume of the
 anolomy, 1 being huge, 0 being none. When I calculated the level before the
 anolomy hit the Argetlahm, the number was around 0.5, signfying a moderate
 size dimensional warp, something in the vincinity of a 50-kilometer wide
 wormhole. Various people and objects from each dimension up were sucked into
 the anolomy and deposited in our dimension. Recent checks on that number
 show that the dimensional warp is healing nicely..." 

 TK nodded. "Yeah, I get it. And?" 

 Raul pushed himself away from the terminal. "Look for yourself." 

 "Huzzah..." TK said. "The number is 0.00001. So?" 

 Raul shook his head. "The dimensional warp isn't healing any more that that.
 It just stopped there and it's remained like that for the past 4 hours. So,
 it is theoretically still possible for interventions from other dimensions."


 "Okay, there you lost me." 

 "Let me explain it like this," Raul stated. "The warp is down to a
 microscopic size, dimensionally speaking - right now, a warp of that size
 would be around the size of a door on the ship... 2 meters up, 1 meter
 across. And that 'dimensional door' stretches across each of the Six
 Dimensions." 

 "So let me get this straight," TK muttered. "Anyone who knows where this
 'door' is can transverse dimensions too?" 

 Raul nodded. "Yes. Thankfully, Ultramagnus cannot detect an anolomy of this
 size and board the Argetlahm. However, as for anyone else who can..." 

 "Uh oh." 









 Meanwhile... several centillion lightyears away.... through the "door".... 
 In the.... 

 DUM DUM 

 Sixth Dimension!! 








 "Davis Motomiya, please come get your test." 

 Davis got up slowly from his desk and strided down the aisles of desks
 alongside him, passing the teacher's desk and snatching the test out of his
 hands. He made his way up to the front of the class and stood with the test
 behind his back. 

 "Heeeeeeey guys!!" Davis wailed. "Anyone wanna guess what I got on my
 test?!" 

 The entire class groaned. 

 Davis threw the test in front of him. "105%! Read it and weep! Yeah!" 

 "Shut the hell up, Davis!" 
 "Screw you!" 
 "Sit down already!" 

 TK stood up from his desk. "Just HOW did he get 105% anyways? Him getting
 90's and 100's is bad enough! Isn't anyone else interested how he managed to
 break 100%?!" 

 "Yeah!" 
 "What really went on?" 
 "Teacher's pet!" 

 The teacher folded his hands. "Well, didn't any of you know there was a
 bonus question on the back of the test? For some odd reason, Davis was the
 only person who answered it." 

 Davis began breakdancing as everyone else face faulted. 

 "Takeru Takaishi, come get your test." 

 TK groaned as he made his way out of his desk. "Coming." He walked past the
 teacher, grabbing his test. He looked at it and sweadropped. 

 "34%?!? What the fuck?!" 


 ******** 


 In the computer lab, Izzy sat at his computer as usual, typing away... but
 the picture seemed.. different. 

 "You.. have achieved.. 8 WPM." Izzy groaned. "Why the hell do they have the
 keys in such stupid positions? This computer has gotta be bad luck. I'll try
 another one." He stood from his chair and waddled clumsily to the computer
 at the other end of the aisle. He sat down and stared into a blank computer
 screen. Izzy brought a pair of confused hands down on the desk ahead of him.
 "What the hell is wrong with this one?!" 

 Tai looked up from his computer next to Izzy. "Something wrong, Izzy?" 

 Izzy gestured toward the black flatscreen monitor. "Look at this, Tai! Tell
 me what's wrong with this." 

 Tai scowled to himself. "..the monitor isn't on, Izzy." 

 Izzy sweatdropped. "...eh.. heh... I knew that." He reached forward and
 struck the small O-shaped button on the facepanel of the monitor. As the
 screen lit up, Izzy's face twisted again. "Urrggghhh!! What's THIS, now?!
 .... C:\>....? Tai! What the hell is this?!" 

 Tai growled. "Izzy, you're in MS-DOS prompt. Just a second." Tai reached
 forward and typed. C:\>win. He pushed Enter and Windows lit up before him. 

 "It's about time something worked," Izzy moaned. "I need a game of Solitaire
 to calm me... DAMN!! Tai, where's Solitaire?!" 

 Tai worked his way through the Start menu using the keyboard.
 ..Accessories... Games.. Solitaire. 

 Izzy tried to move the mouse. The cursor on the screen didn't respond.
 "TAIIIIIIII!!!" 

 Tai ducked behind the computer. "Ah, figures. The mouse is plugged into a
 PS/2 (A/N - note to the computer illiterate - NO, it's NOT Playstation2)
 port. Let me switch it to a USB port... ugh.. ah... there. Now try it." 

 Before Izzy could do anything, a window came up with a red circle with a
 white X in it. "... illegal operation... Tai!" 

 Tai stood to his feet, clicked Details, and examined the bizarre computer
 code ahead of him. "Hmm... E3525453Z, T325646466... fault at directory...
 funny.. there's something wrong with the display card. I'll check it out
 after school. Use mine." 

 Izzy got up and slumped back down into Tai's old chair. "Computers. Only
 make life harder." 


 ******** 


 Mimi sat and drummed her fingers on her desk. No, America was too well
 defended. That's why she moved back to Japan... they depended solely on
 scattered American defense bases throughout Japan and they would be easy
 pickings as long as Mimi and her forces stayed away from any large American
 defense compounds. She had to strike now. Mimi reached for the red phone at
 the far edge of her desk. 


 ******** 


 Joe picked up the phone. "Yello! Berserker Commando Platoon ready to go!" 

 "My, Joe," Mimi giggled. "You seem awfully ready to put your life on the
 line for whatever useless reason I tell you to." 

 Joe nodded. "You know me, the courageous type." 

 A loud screech sounded in the background. 

 "What was that?" Mimi sighed. 

 "Matt's over here trying to work an old electric guitar he found in my
 garage. He doesn't sound too musically inclined, though. So, what did you
 want from me?" 

 Mimi shrugged. "You know the drill. Kill lots of stuff." 

 "We've raided Odaiba three times in the past week, Mimi," Joe said. "We
 wouldn't mind a reason for going out there against Tokyo police other than
 'killing stuff'. Mimi, there's a plan here that I don't know of, right?" 

 Mimi squealed. "C'mon, Joe! Killing stuff is fun! You of all people should
 know that." 

 Joe shook his head. "Whatever. We'll get the weapons loaded up in half an
 hour. Meet us outside Tokyo limits." He hung up the phone. "Hey, Matt! We
 got work!" 

 Another loud screech blasted through Joe's house. Matt walked out of the
 living room into the kitchen where Joe was, with the guitar in hand. He drug
 a connected amp behind him. "I guess I'm not really cut out for guitars,
 huh? Hey, check out this number I made up..." 

 Joe's eyes grew wide. "No! NOOO!!" 

 Everybody in a mile radius could hear the sonic boom that radiated from
 Joe's house that morning. 


 ******** 


 Yolei sat out in her living room in her PJs. She couldn't dare to miss what
 was going on. When Yolei made sure no one was watching, she swiped her
 credit card swiftly through the back of the satellite receiver. 

 The TV lit up. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PAYMENT. ENJOY THE SHOW - PAY-PER-VIEW. 

 Yolei leapt onto the couch, landing on her side. She grabbed a half-full
 bowl of popcorn from the endtable and dug in. 

 "Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. You watch now a challenge that could
 very well decide the future of this planet... THE CELL GAMES!!! For anyone
 who dared miss the beginning of our presentation, our champion Hercule was
 wiped off the map by the reigning champion of the ring, Cell." 

 "Damnf, I missf somef," Yolei sputtered, popcorn shreds dropping out of her
 mouth. 

 "Oh! But what is this? A young man has stepped into the ring! And mind you,
 just his hair alone could kill Cell 8 times over!" On TV, the reporter stuck
 a microphone out in front of him to the new challenger. He slowly turned his
 head to face the camera, his blond hair flapping in the breeze. "Just call
 me Goku." 

 "Great!" The reporter chirped. "We have another challenger for Cell! Stay
 tuned for the massive challenge between these two Goliaths on
 Pay-Per-View!!" 


 15 minutes later 


 Cell's cold, determined face lit up the camera for a second. It panned over
 to Goku's. And back to Cell's. Then to Goku's. Both faces remained still
 without so much as a word. 

 Cell sat still. A smile slowly crept up his face. 





























 "Checkmate." 

 "DAMN IT!!!" Goku yelled, leaping up out of his chair. 

 As the camera panned out to show the chessboard on a table and two chairs in
 the middle of Cell's expansive outdoor arena, the reporter stood in a
 quickly-assembled grandstand on the far edge of the coliseum. "Well, there
 you have it, folks. Another person falls to Cell's reign of terror. Stay
 tuned to the CELL GAMES for further updates and challenges from Perfect Cell
 himself. This is Don Johnson, signing off. Back to you, Harbringson." 







 Argetlahm Rec Room 
 Day 11, 10:23 PM 



 Izzy set his laptop on top of the bigscreen television in the room and
 turned to face his audience. "Glad you could all show up." 

 Everybody who was still awake nodded. 

 "Alright. Lord Raul told me to get you guys down here so we could show you
 something. The dimensional anolomy that hit the Argetlahm several days ago
 has been healing nicely, however it will not close up all the way for some
 time. Raul says that while the size of the disruption now is generally
 extremely small, its dimensional length has expanded. Theoretically, this
 means that the gate now extends into the once-thought-forbidden sixth
 dimension. I don't imagine any of you would want to go to a place like that.
 However, using an uplink from Lord Raul's computer terminal, we'll be able
 to route my laptop to survey the sixth dimension and paste whatever it finds
 on this television." 

 Heero leaned back on the couch. "So that means what?" 

 Izzy grinned. "We're not gonna be bored for a while." 









 Now! We dive back through the gate... to the.... 

 DUM DUM 

 Sixth Dimension!! 




 TK sat at the desk, glancing over the textbook template once again. He was
 going to pass this retest, whether Davis liked it or not. Every desk around
 him was empty. 

 The teacher looked up at his decimated classroom, empty save for a desperate
 TK. "...uh.. Takeru? You can go home now It's 7:30." 

 "I'm here for the retest," TK sighed. "Can you get me set up?" 

 The teacher nodded. "Why, of course I can. I'll give you the sheets now." 



 So TK sat down with the sheets. Another hour passed by the time he handed
 his sheets in. TK finally escaped the class with a test mark of.... 

 *drumroll* 

 51%!! 


 TK placed the sheet down on the desk and breathed a sigh of relief. 51%. It
 could've been better, but it was enough to pass into the next Math course.
 As he swiped up his test marks and strided out into the darkened school
 hallway, he plowed straight into Cody. 

 Cody peered up at TK with an abnormally large grin on his face. "HEY!!!!!
 TK!!!! HOW ARE YOU DOING?!?" 

 "...eh.. just fine. What are you still doing here at this time of night?
 Don't you have Kendo lessons?" 

 "OF COURSE NOT, DUMBASS!!!" Cody screamed. "I KILLED MY GRANDPA DURING LAST
 WEEK'S LESSON, REMEMBER?!?" 

 TK shifted an eyebrow. "...oh... yeah. I don't know how I could've...
 forgotten." 

 "WELL, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, TK?!? WHAT DO YOU HAVE THERE, A
 TEST?!?" Cody, using his sugar-rush granted agility, leaped and ripped the
 test from TK's hands. "WHOOOOAAAA!!! 51%!!! MAN, EVEN I COULD GET BETTER
 THAN THAT!!! YOU'RE NOT GONNA PASS, MAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!" 

 TK frowned. "How do you know, you aren't even in this math course." 

 "DAVIS TOLD ME!!" Cody screeched. "YOU NEED A 60% MARK ON THAT TEST TO PASS
 ALGEBRA 201!!!! DUMBASS!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!!!!!" 

 With a somewhat satanic laugh, Cody shot down the hall to the double doors
 at the end somewhere near the speed of light. 

 TK collapsed against a locker and buried his head in his hands. "...I'm a
 dead man..." 


 ******** 


 Izzy fell onto the couch and took up the Playstation controller. He got up
 and poked the PS2 power button, making the TV screen in front of him light
 up with a bright white flash. He returned to his seat. "Ah, this is more
 like it. Good 'ol PS2. Never gotta worry about any techie-ass problems with
 this sucker, no..." 

 The phone rang. Izzy reached over and picked it up. "Hello?" 

 "Hey, Izzy. It's me, Tai." A crash and some laughing carried on in the
 background. A long pause followed before Tai got back on the phone.
 "Anyways, I was wondering if you wanna sleep over tonight. I have some
 friends from out of town here for a LAN party at my place." 

 Izzy tried desperately, desperately hard to sound smart. "Well, of course
 your party is going to be on land, the shore's 200 kilometers from here." 

 Tai shook his head in disgust. Okay, he's technologically challenged. One
 last try. "C'mon, Izzy! We're gonna have sweet ass PC games here...
 Starcraft... Diablo II... Unreal Tournament... and we have killer rigs to
 play them on, too! Pentium 4s, all of them!" 

 "Rigs? I thought you said the party was on land?" 

 Tai sweatdropped. "....ah.. forget it. Sorry I bothered you. See ya." He
 hung up. 

 Izzy turned and focused on the television ahead of him. "Man, Tai has the
 stupidest parties." 


 ******** 


 The covered truck rumbled slowly down an Odaiba street. It slowly slid to a
 halt as the engine cut out. Mimi climbed out of the driver's door, encased
 in an obscenely tight leather outfit. Matt and Joe hopped out of the back,
 clad in heavy body armor with clips stretched around both of their
 shoulders. 

 Joe took AK47s into both of his hands. "So, what's the plan again?" 

 Mimi shrugged. "We just blow stuff up as I feel....oh wait.... I feel it
 coming... right there!" She swung up a rocket launcher. "DIE
 MUTHAFUCKAS!!!!" The rocket fired and sailed into a nearby office building,
 exploding and making it collapse. Matt and Joe got into the fray almost
 immediately, swinging their automatic firing AK47s in arcs around them as
 they charged down the street uttering Norse warcries in pig latin. 

 Meanwhile, an ATV powerslided around the street and roared down the avenue.
 Seated on it was a somewhat destructive-minded Sora, though she wasn't into
 the same kind of wanton-killing mindset that Mimi was. She scoped out the
 roads on both sides of her as she shot through an intersection. As her
 target squeezed its way into the corner of her eye, she slammed on the
 brake. Yes. It was there. A flower bed with geraniums against the side of an
 apartment. The floraphobic Sora stepped on the gas and charged the ATV
 crazily straight at the flower bed, plowing over it and sending disembodied
 flowers in all directions. 

 Sora caught her breath. "Another block of Odaiba ridded of... flowers...
 flowers! FLOWERS!!!!" Her muscles bulged as she picked up a nearby planter
 and busted it over her knee. 

 Matt and Joe froze at the sight of the Hulk-ified Sora. "Alright," Matt
 whimpered. "We all knew she was a bitch, but this is ridiculous." 

 "URRGGHHH!!!" Mimi bellowed. "NO ONE OTHER THAN ME BLOWS SOMETHING UP AND
 GETS AWAY WITH IT!!!!" Mimi charged into the dazed Sora and flipped her onto
 her back. Both dodged punches from each other. Mimi dove out of the way as
 Sora brought her fists down on the ground where Mimi once stood, blasting
 apart the concrete beneath it. 

 Joe sweatdropped. "I didn't know they had it in them." 


 ******** 


 Yolei picked up another kernel of popcorn and bit into it. 

 "Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the CELL GAMES!! Before our last
 commercial break, the star Mel Gibson jumped onstage and valiantly threw his
 life on the line in an attempt to defeat the nefearious Cell! But, as we all
 know, no overpaid romantic sap actor deserves to be killed, so after a
 heated game of Hearts, Cell flung him into another dimension! OH, wait,
 people! What is this? A young boy has come up into the arena to attempt to
 beat Cell! We can only wish this young boy luck." 


 15 minutes later 


 The panning fit with the cameras went on again. Cell stared emotionless on
 ahead. Gohan stared emotionless on ahead. After staring each other silly for
 several minutes, the absolution had to be revealed. 


























 "B9." Cell spoke. 

 Gohan slammed his head down on the table. "...you sunk my battleship." 

 The reporter smacked himself in the face. "Sweet Jesus, no! Can this be
 happening?! Cell has claimed yet another victory! When will the madness
 stop? Will Cell ever meet his match? Stay tuned to the CELL GAMES to find
 out if this behemoth can ever be toppled! Until then, some words from our
 sponsors..." 







 Argetlahm Rec Room 
 Day 11, 11:13 PM 


 Davis shook his head. "This is royally screwed." 

 "You're telling us." Squall sighed. 

 Everybody looked up to hear a message crackle over the intercom. "Hey,
 everybody. Ultimanium here. First and foremost, I would like to apologize to
 everyone for my harsh speech several days ago. Being the asshole that I am,
 I have taken no responsibility for your safebeing.. until now. Next mission
 that comes up, I will come down and fight alongside everybody. Also,
 regarding the somewhat late times you have been going to sleep on
 holidays..." 

 Armadillomon grinned. "7:15 AM's my latest. How about you guys? 

 "...we will be instating a curfew for holidays. Not as early as mission
 nights, but restricting nonetheless. You will be required to go to bed by
 midnight on holidays." 

 Everybody groaned. 

 Izzy turned back to the disgruntled group. "Well, do you guys still want to
 watch this?" 











 TK sat on the curb. It was raining. Why wouldn't it be? He failed his math
 course. He would be the laughing stock of his Digidestined comrades. He
 could still hear that little freak Cody's high-pitched laugh ringing in his
 ears. He failed his math. He failed his parents. 

 Davis sat him up, unaware to TK. "Alright, TK.." 

 "D-Davis..." 

 "What?" 

 "You said my name right..." 

 Davis shrugged. "If you'll take the time to look, you'll also notice several
 other things screwed up in this chapter. Okay, what's the problem?" 

 TK showed Davis the math test. "...hmm... not good..." Davis hummed. "I know
 what you can do, though." 

 "What?" 

 Davis handed him another math test. Kari Kamiya, it read. It had a grading
 of 305929455688%. 

 TK blinked. "...uh... how did she get that high?" 

 Davis slapped TK on the shoulder. "I said it was a screwed up chapter. Just
 forge over her name and you'll be alright. Okay?" 

 TK nodded. "...thanks... Davis." 

 "No problem." 


 ******** 


 Tai looked out the window. The storm outside was getting pretty bad. As
 everybody wailed on each other in a heated match of Quake 3, a loud rapping
 came at the door. "Hey, guys," Tai shouted. "Be right back." He strided up
 to the large front door and swung it open. Standing in the rain was Izzy,
 holding his PS2. 

 Izzy sniffled. "Hey, Tai. We need to talk." 

 "Oh, sure. Got over that entire PS2 thing and you're ready to play some real
 games, right?" 

 "No.." Izzy whimpered. "It's my PS2. It isn't starting right." 

 Tai rolled his eyes. "Alright, let's take it apart and see what's wron..." 

 "NOOOO!!!!" Izzy screamed swinging the PS2 behind him. "DON'T HURT MY
 BABY!!!!" 

 "Izzy, if your PS2 won't start, it's probably an internal problem. We need
 to take it apart." 

 Izzy fell to his knees, carrying the console with him. "NOOOO!!! THIS IS TOO
 CRUEL!! YOU CAN'T DESTROY MY... MY... FRIEND!!! NOOOOOO!!!!" 

 Tai looked behind him, hesitantly. Everybody was giving Izzy annoyed stares.
 "..eh.. Izzy, we can't solve it any other way. You have to trust me." 

 Izzy looked up at Tai, with rage in his eyes. "..you were never my friend.
 Always babbling about your technotrash, you damn nerds! My Playstation is my
 true friend, not you, you NERD!! NEEEEERRRRRRDDDDD!!!" Izzy, in a fit,
 turned and started heading for the door. All the LAN party participants
 stopped him and started pounding the crap out of him before he made it. Tai
 caught the PS2 that flew from the fray in his arms. 

 Tai grinned. "This has GOTTA be worth a lot on EBay..." 


 ******** 


 Mimi dodged the flying fists that shot out at her with surprising speed and
 grace. At one point, she leaned completely backwards, avoiding an entire
 volley of fists altogether. For cinematic effect, the camera panned around
 her as she leaned. 

 Joe just sulked. "We're going to get our asses copyright-sued back to hell
 for this." 

 Matt picked up a potted plant from the wreckage. "Hey, She-Man!! I got
 flowers for ya!!" 

 Sora stopped for a second and stared at Matt's plant. 

 "..yeah, you want this, don't you?!" Matt cried. "Then go get it!!" With
 superhuman strength, Matt hurled the potted flower down the street several
 dozen blocks, all the way to the shoreline. Sora, in a fit, lost her muscle
 mass. She hopped on her ATV and sped off after the flowery projectile. 

 And that's how Mimi's terrorist/militia group saved Odaiba. They got the
 Tokyo's Key to the City and a celebratory parade - which they bombed and
 killed 527 people, of course. 


 ******** 


 Yolei sat on the edge of her seat. It was going to end soon. 

 "Welcome back to another thrilling chapter of the CELL GAMES!! Just
 recently, the superhero Saiyan Trunks was beat down mercilessly by Cell
 during the competition that aired minutes ago! In case you didn't see, we
 have an instant replay... 


 *Trunks is leaning over Cell. That's all that can be seen on the camera.* 

 *Trunks leans over and touches something. The camera can't see it, though.* 

 Trunks -  Left... foot.. green... 

 *Trunks begins reaching his left leg under Cell. Cell screams.* 

 Cell - AUUGHHH!! 

 Trunks - Damn! Nooooo!! 


 *The camera begins playing in slo-mo as Trunks slides and lands on the
 Twister mat beneath him with an echoing thud.* 

 Cell - (laughs) works every time. 


 The reporter's jaw drops. "No! Impossible!! Even this brave young lad that
 apparently all the girls are drooling over and we'll get better ratings
 and... um... sorry. Anyways, even HE was brought down by the megalomanic
 Cell!! Will anyone ever beat him?! Time is running out!!.. oh, wait! One
 more challenger takes the ring! Name, please?" 

 "I am the Super Saiyan Vegeta. Do not get in my way while I crush this
 cursed 'Cell' for what he is worth." 


 45 minutes later 


 The camera goes into yet another face switching phase. Cell. Vegeta. Cell.
 Vegeta. Cell. Cell Vegeta. Vegeta. Vegeta. Cell. The tension is building. It
 all leads down to this... the final verdict... 









































 "I own Boardwalk. That will be 50 dollars rent, please." Cell droned. 

 Vegeta scoured the board for some money of his. "YOU... DAMN YOU!!! I'M
 BANKRUPT!!!" 


 The reporter shook his head. "No! This can't be happening! Every single
 challenger of Cell's has been utterly, completely defeated! What hope will
 earth have now against this evil android with a affinity for boardgames?..."



 Yolei nodded. "What? What?" 


 "....find out on our next Pay-Per-View special, due out..." 


 Yolei turned off the TV, growling. Just dandy. Another 45 dollars down the
 drain. As she got up to return to her room, she noticed a doorway down at
 the end of the hall, glowing a soft yellow light from just inside. 

 "Wait a minute... that wasn't there before..." As Yolei walked into it...
 the dimensional rupture began to take its course. 



 The Argetlahm was going to have one more passenger... a very strange one....





 So what did exactly happen to Yolei? How will the Argetlahm crew accept the
 challenges ahead? Next time.. on ... Argetlahm Adventures!! 







 END OF CHAPTER 10 











 Argetlahm (Various Locations) 
 Day 14, 11:35 AM 


 Ah, yes, it was a peaceful day on the Argetlahm for once. Everything
 apparently returned to its normal self. Karsh and Vegeta exchanged scowls.
 Goku and Gohan trained. TK and Izzy looked up arcane and obscenely powerful
 Ki attacks and magic spells in the library. Conker relaxed with Berri along
 with a case of beer. Kari chatted with friends over the internet. Heero and
 Duo were outside in space perfecting their piloting skills on their new
 Gundams. Serge once again attempted various Kata moves in the training gym.
 Veemon let off some steam in the shooting range. Davis played Quake 3.
 Ultimanium stared into space. Magnus ate. Lord Raul sat in the hall of his
 bunk and spoke to anyone who dared pass him in Draconian dialect. For once,
 everything was normal. 



 But then again, that's how it always starts, doesn't it? 






 ******** 





 Tai sat at his computer terminal, attempting to decipher the computer code
 in front of him. "I'm not good with computers." 

 "It's not computer language, it's just a math equasion," Armadillomon
 chirped. "Can't you at least figure out your schoolwork?" 

 Cody sat on the top bunk, letting his feet dangle. "Tai, are you sure it's a
 good idea to sneak into TK's bunk like this? If he found us..." 

 Tai turned around in his chair. "If he found us, he would know that we had a
 perfectly legitimate reason to do something like sneak into his bunk without
 his permission. Now, help me look at this." 

 Cody squinted. "All I can understand out of the entire thing is 0.00001.
 It's all Greek to me." 





 ******** 




 (A/N - Remember that throughout this chapter, the Yolei from the sixth
 dimension  boarded the Argetlahm by accident (see the end of last chapter),
 and any tastes expressed by her are of her 6D form. Tread lightly. Oh, and
 Ultimanium will smite her if need be.) 






 The light in the engine room slowly subsided. A dazed Yolei stepped forward
 from the dimensional warp, the door behind her fading slightly. It was still
 there, but somewhat less noticeable. Yolei stood about the massive engines
 and scattered machinery lying across the massive floor of the engine hall,
 her eye focused on the brilliant blue blasts raging out the rears of the
 thrusters, pushing the Argetlahm forward. "Such primitive propulsion." 

 During the next several hours, she managed to sneak undetected about the
 Argetlahm, cloaking herself against the wall whenever someone passed. The
 privacy shielding built into her ID chip helped her greatly to avoid
 detection from the people who walked the halls of the capship. Somehow, they
 all seemed familiar to her. But, still, they remained a good ways away from
 her understanding. She began to get ideas as she listened in on some private
 conversations in the rec room. 

 Karsh picked up the remote control and started flipping through the
 channels. "Hey, Davis. How's you're training going?" 

 "Same old, same old," Davis sighed, as he flopped down on the couch. "I'm
 trying to get Squall to teach me some of his Limit Breaks but he isn't
 complying." 

 "You know our game special moves. Secret stuff. How about Veemon? How's he
 taking the Gatomon ordeal?" 

 Yolei blinked. Davis? THAT'S Davis?! Veemon?? Gatomon?!? What's going on
 here?! 

 "Okay," Davis sighed. "I think he's been getting waaaay too trigger happy in
 the range lately, though." 

 "Aaah, he needs to blow off steam, even if it means missing a lot." 

 "He's gotten head shots every single time since he started." 

 "....oh." 


 Yessir, Yolei knew that something was different about Davis. Rather than his
 yellow shirt, green plaid pants and cokebottle glasses (A/N - Sixth
 dimension fashion. Who would've knew?), he had spiky hair, khaki shorts and
 a killer 60's vintage jacket. Hot stuff, Yolei giggled to herself. I wonder
 if any other of the digidestined are aboard. 

 TK threw open the door. "Alright, who put the fake python in my bed?!" He
 held up the plastic snake in one hand. 

 Omigosh! TK! He actually had hygeine! He shaved! He bathed! ...which
 couldn't be said for the 6D TK, no. That TK let loose a fearing primal
 scream at the sight of soap and every damn girl in school hated his guts.
 But this one... what's with all the digidestined guys? They're all so... 

 Tai burst in. "Hey, guys! Conker's hosting drinking games down at his bunk!
 Who's comin'?" 

 Yolei shook her head. No way. Tai, the computer nerd, who shared Davis'
 dress code. But wait a minute, now he drinked! He had muscle mass of SOME
 sort! And his hair was wild! WILD!! Calm down, Yolei. 


 Ultimanium walked in. "I'm up for some fun." 

 "Ultimanium?!" 
 "Ultimanium?!" 
 "Ultimanium?!" 
 "Ultimanium?!" 


 Yolei's eyes grew wide. Now THIS was what she was looking for. Some
 mysterious prince with an attitude. Yolei's mental competition fought
 between Davis, TK, Tai and... Ultimanium. 

 Ultimanium frowned, and looked around nervously. "Hey, Ulty," Karsh laughed.
 "What's wrong, having second thoughts?" 

 "...um..." Ultimanium stammered. "Is there anyone else in this room that I
 don't know of? Besides Davis, Tai, TK and Karsh?" 

 "No," TK said, tossing the plastic python to his side. "Why?" 

 Ultimanium shook his head. "I don't know.. it's like I sense someone else in
 here.." 

 Everybody except Yolei began walking to the door. "Eh, guys..." TK
 stuttered. 

 "What?" Tai asked. 

 "Do you really think it's a good idea to drink right now?" 

 Karsh grabbed TK's collar and began hauling him off. "Quite being a damn
 wuss and drink with us." 


 Yolei grinned. Great. Maybe she would join in, who knows... 












 "..and then his chest exploded! And this huge alien came after me, and..." 

 Goku shook his head. "Conker, you've had too much to drink." 

 Conker peered at the unopened case on the table. "I haven't even started
 yet." 

 The door creaked open slowly, TK, Tai, Davis and Ultimanium looking in. The
 room was relatively clean, for Conker staying in there, anyways. Conker and
 Goku were seated on the bottom bunk in the room. A small card table was
 placed in the center of the room with a pair of cases of beer sitting on it.
 Lord Raul sat in the corner of the room, meditating. 

 "....Raul?" TK said, confused. 

 "..." Raul had his hands placed on his temples. He was focusing on a small
 piece of blue crystal lying on the ground in front of him. Slowly, he
 disengaged his hands from his head and looked up at TK. "...Takeru. Don't
 bother me, I'm trying to forge something here." 

 "Ah, don't mind him," Conker sighed. "He's been sitting here since this
 morning trying to weld crap together with his mind. Swords. Big swords,
 small swords, whatever. I couldn't understand anything he was saying. Stuff
 like the Sword of Troop." 

 "That wasn't it," Raul hummed. "And you'll never truly know if you keep
 bothering me." 

 Goku nodded. "You should move into the tech library. It would be easier to
 concentrate in there." 

 Raul sat up, grasping the crystal. Miniture waves of energy pulsed off the
 rock every couple seconds. "I guess you are right. I'll see you all
 tonight." 

 Tai shoved out of the way as Raul went by. "....tonight?" 

 Ultimanium grasped Tai's shoulder. "Let him go. He has work to do." 

 Conker leaned back. "We're just here to have a night of drinking,
 ruminating,  ... drinking...ruminating.... drinking, drinking, ruminating,
 drinking, ruminating, ruminating, drinking... and some ruminating if we have
 time." 

 "Don't forget drinking." Karsh said. 

 Conker grinned. "Oh, yeah. Can't forget that." He reached back and took a
 long sip from his beer before placing it back on the table. "To keep it
 simple, Ulty and us decided to just lay smooth for the night and relax.
 Share adventures. You know." 

 TK glanced around hesitantly. "Well.. we don't drink..." 

 "I suppose just one won't hurt," Davis moaned. He reached in and opened a
 beer and took a sip from it. 

 Oooh, Yolei thought. He drinks.... if we could get him drunk enough... 

 TK sat down on the bunk as everyone else joined in on a hearty drink. As he
 heard the various topics flying around the table, he decided to join in.
 "Hey, Ultimanium," TK questioned. "Has anyone been to the sixth dimension
 before?" 

 Ultimanium placed down his beer. "The sixth dimension.. I know a few people,
 mostly Zeal avatars. Why?" 

 "I was wondering what it was like." 

 "There's only been a few classified attempted jumps to the sixth dimension,"
 Ultimanium mumbled. "What you saw on Izzy's last night was only the
 beginning of things.. as you may have noticed, everything is generally a
 full 180 from what you would expect in the fourth dimension... since reality
 editation regins supreme there, Zeal sages hypothesized that someone may
 have tampered with the dimensional fabric in that world, turning it back on
 itself. That is what you see through the uplink - a total reversal of
 beliefs, personalities, everything. To that extent, people look at the sixth
 dimension as an even more dangerous place than the first or second
 dimensions." 

 Sixth... fourth dimension? Is this what I'm going through? 

 Tai rocked back on his chair. "But if we had some kind of advocate of the
 sixth dimension, I could imagine we could learn a lot about it." 

 You want an advocate? I'll show you an advocate! 

 Yolei quickly decloaked and leaped into an empty seat. "Hi, guys!!" 

 Everybody's eyes widened as they let out a horrified scream.
 "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" 

 "Everybody!" Yolei sputtered, holding various people down. "It's me, Yolei!"


 "Y-you're not Yolei!" Davis yelped. "You're too hot to be Yolei!! You don't
 have glasses! You're..." 

 Everybody looked at Davis strangely. 

 Davis sweatdropped. "What?" 

 Ultimanium stood up. "She DOES look different from Yolei..." 

 Yolei drug her seat closer to Ultimanium. "Well... who are you...
 'Ultimanium'..." 

 Ultimanium sweatdropped. "You can get away from me now." 

 "Would this be an example of someone from the sixth dimension?" TK asked. 

 "I guess she gets points for falling out of thin air." Conker said. 

 Goku stepped forward. "Yolei." 

 Yolei whipped around to stare Goku in the face. "Whoa-hoa-hoa!! This one's
 even better!!" 

 Goku threw his arms in front of him to stop the overzealous Yolei from
 glomping him. However, she was slowly gaining ground. 

 "Goku!" Conker yelled. "Put some strength into it!" 

 "I'm... I'M TRYING!!" Goku shouted back, inbetween grunts. Eventually, Yolei
 threw him onto the bed. It took Ultimanium to stop her before Goku would
 have things to say to Chichi. Ultimanium tossed Yolei back onto the floor. 

 "Goku!" Ultimanium barked. "Was Yolei really able to overpower you?!" 

 "Y-YES!!" the traumatized Goku stammered. 

 Conker grit his teeth. "Do people from the sixth dimension have that kind of
 power?" 

 "Well.." Ultimanium sighed. "With the reality editation that occurs all the
 time in the sixth dimension, it is common for everyday people to possess
 super powers... I've been told it's a way of life there..." 

 "Shut up, all of you!" Yolei shouted. "All this fourth, sixth dimension crap
 - our reality is always referred to as the sixth dimension - what dimension
 am I in right now?" 

 "We're in the first." Goku said. 

 "But everybody here is from the fourth and fifth dimensions." Conker added. 

 Yolei smirked. ".. I'm kind of liking this one better... hot guys and
 all..." 

 Everybody sweatdropped. "We have to get out of here." Karsh said. 

 Yolei twisted a strand of her purple hair. "In the sixth dimension... every
 single guy out there wants me... but they're all nerds! I think I've found
 who I want right here." 

 TK snickered. "Alternate dimension, all right." 

 Ultimanium stood forward. "You're taking no one from this ship." 

 "Who's going to stop me?" Yolei scowled, turning toward Ultimanium. "You are
 all fifth-fourth-dimensioners, I have a greater power level than all of you!
 Ultimanium, I'll fight your guys if that's what it takes to get them back to
 the sixth dimension with me!!.. especially you." 

 Davis frowned. "She's an even bigger nutcase than she was in the fourth
 dimension." 

 "...sixth-dimensional trash!" Ultimanium muttered. "If that's what it takes,
 then yes. We'd be more than happy to fight you. I or my crew wouldn't go out
 with you if you were the last bitch remaining in ANY dimension, period. Get
 out of our faces!" He turned to the drinking crew. "Can you take her?" 

 TK fell onto the bunk. "We can try." 

 Ultimanium turned back to Yolei. "Please, Yolei, don't do this. We're on a
 very important mission..!" 

 "SHADDUP!!" Yolei yelled, throwing a blind fist at Ultimanium. Ultimanium
 caught it and threw it back in Yolei's face. 

 "Let's get this over with." Conker mumbled. 








 ******** 







 Gatomon woke up, finding herself in someone's arms. "W-where... where am
 I..?" 

 "About damn time you woke up." Ultramagnus muttered, throwing the half-awake
 Gatomon to the floor. "You have work to do." 

 Gatomon pushed herself away from Ultramagnus. "Work? Now what the hell do
 you want? The forcefield was bad enough, but..." 

 A roar echoed down the hall. 

 Ultramagnus smiled. "Gatomon, do you have any idea what that is?" 

 "...can't say I do." 

 "Welcome, Gatomon, to my tower's basement floor. This is where I keep the
 evil digimon that some friends of mine have accumulated throughout their
 travels.. you might know their leader well. KAISER!!" 

 A figure shrouded in darkness stepped around the corner. "Yes, Ultramagnus?"


 Gatomon's eyes grew wide. "...I know that voice..." 






 Ken plodded slowly up to Ultramagnus, looking down to the powerless Gatomon
 at his feet. He was fully decked out in his Emperor outfit, though the
 colors on his clothes were faded somewhat. "New genetic samples. Great.
 Thanks, Ultramagnus." 

 "K-Ken?!" Gatomon yelped. 

 Ultramagnus laughed. "Oh, don't worry, I assure you, this isn't the Ken you
 know. You want to know what happened to the Digidestined from this
 dimension? They were smacked down by MaloMyotismon. Bad. These Digidestined
 didn't particularly show the same ambition and hope the ones in your
 dimension did, and they lost. Ken is the only one living. Seeing no other
 alternative, he decided to join up with my little band. I hope you enjoy
 experimentation.." 

 "Megakimeramon is awaiting one more sample. After that, he will be
 completed." Ken droned. 

 "Megakimeramon?!" Gatomon wailed. "Ken! What have you done?! What's
 Megakimeramon?!" 

 Ultramagnus smirked. "Just a little idea I got from the original model
 Kimeramon that was constructed in your dimension. Except this one is made up
 of many, many more models of digimon. I believe the number tops off at 50.
 You should be proud to contribute to a masterpiece like Megakimeramon." 

 "You're not getting any needles in me!!" Gatomon yelled. 

 Ken shook his head. "Who said anything about needles? We cannot obtain pure
 genetic information from a digimon like you using bloodstream genes,
 Gatomon.  We intend to breed you to Megakimeramon and raise the hatchling to
 fight Ultimanium's crowd. The gestation is extremely short... 8 hours, I
 believe. However, we need you to be fully rested before you can fertilize
 properly. We're going to leave you for... I don't know.. about 36 hours.
 Then we will... well, you know." 

 Gatomon growled. "Never!" Picking herself off the ground with superhuman
 agility, she hurled herself at Ken. "Lightning Claw!!" 

 Gatomon's claws shredded across Ken's face, leaving a trail of blood in the
 air, and some dripping from Gatomon's paw. 

 "YYYYAAAAGGUUUUUGHHH!!!!!" Ken screamed, holding the multiple dripping scars
 implanted across his face. "Stupid little bitch!!" 

 Gatomon was ready to launch another strike when Ultramagnus brought a fist
 down on her, knocking her out. "Problem solved." 

 Ken fought back against the searing pain scorching across his face.
 "..ackkk....get her rested. When she's done resting, we'll get her down here
 and breed her. Then I kill her. Good enough?" 

 Ultramagnus shrugged. "Suit yourself." He turned and began hauling the
 unconscious Gatomon back up to his office. 

















 Yolei flung Goku against the training gym wall. With some effort, Goku
 shoved himself off the wall and lunged at Yolei. They locked in a flurry of
 punches, Yolei dodging every single assault by Goku with minimal effort.
 With a single gesture, Yolei brought her arm up and knocked Goku away from
 her into the air, him landing about 20 feet away. 

 Goku quickly leaped to his feet. "This is impossible!!" 

 The entire Argetlahm crew watched from a nearby bench. "This is nuts!" Kid
 shouted. "Even Goku is getting wiped!" 

 Vegeta stood to his feet. "Maybe it requires a little more effort on the
 Saiyan end of things. WOMAN!! You don't want to fight him!! I, Vegeta, will
 defeat you!!" 

 Cloud buried his head in his hands. "Here he goes again." 

 With no warning, Goku and Vegeta dove at the occupied Yolei at the same
 time, limbs flailing. Even through the tag-team assault of the two Saiyans,
 Yolei was effortlessly sidestepping every single attack the team threw at
 her. 

 Agumon threw his fists in the air, a good distance away. "Right! Left! Left!
 Right! Nooooo!! You're doing it wrong!" 

 Davis glared at TK. "If someone went with her we wouldn't be in this mess
 right now." 

 TK's eyes grew wide. "But she's so.... weeeeeeeeeird..." 

 Goku flew past the observation bench, and kept going through a nearby wall.
 Vegeta fired himself back and landed by the bench. "Everybody! I wouldn't
 mind some help here!!" 

 "We could always just try to talk some sense into her." Patamon chirped. 

 "But then again, you would have to digivolve just to get close to her." Cody
 sighed. 

 Gohan leaped into the fray. "Try me!!" 

 Yolei froze and stared at the enraged Gohan. "Oooooh!! You're so cute!" She
 slowly began to walk up to Gohan, bending down to him. Gohan railed Yolei in
 the face with an elbow, sending her into the wall. She slowly got up from
 the wreckage. "....I hate kids." Yolei, now aware, dove at Gohan and smashed
 him into the ground. The crippled Gohan slowly made his way back to the
 bench. 

 Conker rubbed his chin. "Maybe if she wasn't fighting someone she would take
 back with her, she wouldn't fight so vigorously." 

 Everybody stared at Conker. 

 "....fine, I'll get up there." Conker slowly pushed himself off the bench
 and waddled over to Yolei's position. "Hey! Fight me!" 

 Yolei stared down on Conker. "...who the hell are you? I don't have a fetish
 with squirrels, sorry. Do you even like girls?" 

 Conker grinned. 

 Yolei patted Conker on the head. "Well, you're a ways off from getting a
 girlfriend." 

 Berri waved. "I'm his girlfriend!" 

 Yolei gave Berri a disgusted stare. "...now that is the sluttish outfit I
 have ever seen!" 

 Conker frowned. "Maybe she just likes wearing shorts and belly shirts. Do
 you mind?" 

 Yolei snickered. "Weeeeell, looks like you're going to get more action than
 I thought!" 

 Both Berri and Conker glared at Yolei. "Eh... Yolei..." Conker mumbled.
 "You're beginning to bother me." 

 "Well, it would figure that the one freak-squirrel-man would have to go with
 the whore that had no where else to go, right?" 

 Both Conker and Berri were looking extremely aggravated... Conker more so
 than Berri. 

 "What.. did.. you... say?" Conker growled. 

 Serge fanned his face. "Is it getting hotter in here, or is it just me?" 

 Squall wiped some sweat off his brow. "No way, it is getting warmer in
 here." 

 "Aeroblaster!!" Serge yelled, activating one of his elements. A gust of wind
 shot by the bench, cooling everybody on the bench down instantly. 

 "Thanks, man." Tai said. 

 Gohan sat up from his crater in the corner of the room. "...huh? Wait a
 minute, his power level's rising!" 



 "You heard what I said," Yolei laughed. "WHORE!" 

 A heat wave radiated off of Conker. Ultimanium felt it. 

 Ultimanium smiled. "The Ki's activating." (A/N - The Ki liquid... remember?)


 Conker twitched. "Say it again and I pound the living shit out of you." 

 Yolei started twisting her hair again. "What?.... WHORE?!" 

 Everybody could catch sight of the small blue flame that shot up from around
 Conker's feet, before subsiding. 

 Conker plugged his ears. 

 "Whore! WHORE! WHORE!! WHORE!! WHORE!!!" Yolei taunted. 









 "SHUT THE FUCK UP, BITCH!!!" Conker bellowed. Everybody hid behind the
 bench. Conker threw himself at Yolei and started pounding her in the gut.
 Once Yolei realized what was going on, she threw her clasped fists down to
 flatten Conker, but realized he wasn't there. Conker drove a fist into
 Yolei's side, making her yelp. When she swung around to pound him, he was
 already on Yolei's opposite flank, ready to deliver a kick to Yolei's head.
 With a sickening crack, Yolei was sent sliding across the gym floor. Conker
 shot off after Yolei, diving a knee into her ribcage as she attempted to get
 up. Before anybody could say anything, they righted themselves and started
 nailing each other with blurred punches. Conker whipped out his Uzis and
 fired off several rounds, Yolei stopping to deflect them. However, it bought
 Conker enough time to leap back in and deliver several quick jabs to Yolei.
 Yolei hit the ground hard, Conker still kicking her. 

 Magnus ran in carrying the J3. "What's going on here? Ulty, what did you
 need the J3 for?" 

 "Put it down!" Ultimanium shouted. "Get a portal going to the second
 dimension!!" 

 "But if anyone goes through there, they'll be compressed!!" 

 Ultimanium nodded. "Exactly." 


 The J3 crackled with energy as the black, misty portal shot open. "Conker!!"
 Ultimanium yelled. "Get her over here!" 

 Conker picked up Yolei and threw her to Ultimanium. Ultimanium's fist lit up
 with blue flame as him and Yolei continued beating on each other. Through
 the fray, Ultimanium delivered the flaming fist to Yolei's face, busting her
 nose. He picked her up and threw her as hard as he could through the portal,
 the portal closing behind her. 

 Conker dusted his hands. "Done like dinner." The blue aura around him slowly
 crept down. Everybody let out a hearty cheer as Conker made his way back to
 the bench, stumbling every couple of steps. 

 "Holy shit!" Goku laughed. "That was sweet!" 

 Ultimanium wiped his brow. "Let's hope we don't have to go through that
 again. Conker, that power you just experienced was that of the Ki you
 absorbed. That is what I meant by Ki enhancing you." 

 Lord Raul came in from the hallway. "Good news, everyone. The dimensional
 rupture has finally been completely healed. Nobody's going to be able to get
 through." 

 Everybody breathed a sigh of relief. 




 Besides, it was time for lunch. 









 The evil Yolei has finally been defeated! (Sorry, I just had to say that.)
 That's all I have to say on that front. Next comes another mission...  but,
 it's not one you might expect... Some pissed off digimon get to go it alone
 next time on the Argetlahm Adventures!! 





 END OF CHAPTER 11 











 Argetlahm Bunks 
 Day 15, 1:43 AM 



 It happened again. Time after time, as fate would have it, Veemon woke up in
 a cold sweat. Wiping his face off, he rolled over in his bunk.... 

 to find Kari, smoking a cigar. 


 "Was it good for you?" 







 ******** 








 "YYYYAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!" Veemon screeched, firing up straight in his
 bed. Slowly, he glanced around the bunk. Agumon and Patamon were fast
 asleep, oblivious to Veemon's wail. Yawning, he waddled out of the bunk and
 down the hall to the turbolift, headed for the bridge. He had to go to the
 bathroom, bad. Several minutes later, after a lengthly break, Veemon climbed
 back into bed... and fell asleep, for what seemed like forever. 




 ******** 
















 Ultramagnus snickered. "Yeah, that's right, Veemon. You can just lay there
 hoping Gatomon will come back... but I can make sure that doesn't happen." 

 Veemon stood in the darkness with Ultramagnus. Is this really what
 Ultramagnus looks like? Veemon attempted to shout out at Ultramagnus, but
 nothing came out. Repeatedly he tried, but he couldn't hear a thing he was
 saying. 

 Ultramagnus folded his arms. "I see I can't really attack Ultimanium
 straight, so I have to do the next best thing... bust his soldiers' spirits
 up good. Have a last good look at Gatomon, Veemon..." 

 Gatomon phased in next to Ultramagnus. "...V....Veemon?! What are you doing
 here?" 

 "Shaddup!!" Ultramagnus growled, kicking Gatomon in the face and sprawling
 her across the ground. 

 As mellow and unobservant a digimon that Veemon was, he couldn't stand to
 watch something like this. Blindly, he lunged forward at Ultramagnus.
 "Vee-Headbutt!!!" 

 Ultramagnus swept Veemon aside, sending him crashing into the ground behind
 him. "Oh, did I do that? Alright, Veemon, I won't be defeated so easily.
 Anyways, you're probably asking yourself right now - 'what could Ultramagnus
 want with Gatomon?' - it's what I said earlier. Busting up battle spirit.
 You love Gatomon, don't you? Well, I can say you won't have the physcial
 satisfaction that goes along with your supposed love! Gatomon will be bred
 to the ultimate fighting machine, Megakimeramon! That hatchling that spawns
 from Gatomon will be the death of your friends, Veemon! And to think that
 there won't be anything you can do about it... kinda sad, actually." 


 ******** 


 Veemon tossed in his sleep. 


 ******** 


 Ultramagnus turned around. "Well, maybe there is... you'll see that I'm not
 entirely sadistic. You have 24 hours to find Gatomon. If you don't...
 well... she's gonna walk pretty funny next morning. Come and get her,
 Veemon. You know you want to." 

 "Urrrgghh!!!" Veemon growled, finally gaining control of his voice. "Give
 her back, Ultramagnus!" 

 "Quit bluffing, Veemon," Ultramagnus laughed. "As long as you don't have
 Davis by your side, you're defenseless! Well, I think I've been talking to
 you long enough.. I'll let you get back to sleep..." 

 Veemon twitched. Ultramagnus wasn't about to get away with this. 







 ******** 



 Lord Raul awoke to a loud rapping at his bunk door. In a grumpy fit, he
 climbed off of his top bunk and made his way to the door. "This had better
 be an emergency!" He threw open the door to see Veemon standing there. 

 "Raul," Veemon mumbled. "I need to talk to you." 

 Raul glowed a fierce yellow. "Make it quick." 

 "You do Additive Magic, right?" 

 Raul's glow instantly disappeared. "Business! Geez, Veemon! Why didn't you
 say so? C'mon in!" Raul shut the door silently behind Veemon as he walked
 in. Veemon sat down at Raul's computer. 

 "So," Raul laughed. "What can I make for you? Were you thinking of the
 Ragnarok you saw the other day?" 

 Veemon bowed down. "Well... no. Can you replicate electronics?" 

 Raul lifted an eyebrow. "....well... I guess. Why?" 

 Veemon handed Raul a D3. "Davis' D3. I swiped it from his room before I came
 here. I need you to make a copy of it." 

 "Can't only Davis digivolve you?" Raul asked, examining the D3. 

 Veemon nodded. "Normally. But the shot Ultimanium gave me nullified my
 digivolution restraints, at least that's what I heard from him. That's why
 Cody was able to digivolve me. (A/N - Chapter 7) If it still works I should
 be able to digivolve on my own." 

 "Well.. I guess. Since it's electronics, I can make a copy in a matter of
 seconds. I guess I don't need to charge you for it..." 

 Veemon smiled. 

 "...I wouldn't mind some labor pay, though." 

 Veemon handed Raul a twenty-dollar bill. "I swiped this from Davis too." 

 Raul pocketed the cash. "Thanks. Give me a second." He held the D3 behind
 his back for a couple of seconds, then swung both his arms out, both with
 D3s in them. Veemon took both. 

 "Thanks." 

 Raul waved. "No prob." 

 As Veemon turned and headed back for the turbolift, Agumon rushed in. "Lord
 Raul! Did Veemon pass by here?" 

 Raul settled himself back into his top bunk. "Yeah, why?" 

 "Do you know where he was headed?" 

 Raul shrugged. "Can't say I do. He asked me to replicate Davis' D3 for him,
 though. I don't know what he would do with a D3, but..." 

 A thought ran through Agumon's mind. His eyes grew wide. "...no way! He
 couldn't think of..." 






 ******** 





 The machinery pulsed with life around Veemon as he made his way slowly along
 the catwalk hanging over the engine room. It had to be around here
 somewhere. Ultimanium wouldn't move it for no reason. As he looked down on
 the massive chamber beneath him, a small purple light caught his eye. The J3
 glistened with the ominous light day and night. Veemon walked into the
 elevator and lowered himself down to the engine room ground, and approached
 the J3 cautiously. The purple glow sheeted Veemon as he made his way closer
 to the probe. 

 Veemon scratched his head. "How do you work this thing? It can't be that
 hard if even Conker can operate it..." 




 ******** 




 No sense waking Davis, Agumon thought. Veemon's probably down there by now.
 He tossed the digivice to Raul. "Make me a copy of this." 

 Raul shrugged. "Whatever." He took two digivices in his hands and tossed
 them back to Agumon. "You won't be able to digivolve yourself, you know. I
 have a small amount of Ultimanium's shot left, though. You can use it if you
 want." 

 Agumon sat down and stretched his arm out. "Shoot me up." 

 Raul plunged the needle into Agumon's arm, Agumon letting out a stifled
 yelp. Raul disengaged the needle once its contents had been drained. "That
 should be it," Raul said. "You might want to go into an open area to test
 out the digivice... say, what would Tai say if he knew you had his
 digivice?" 

 "He's not going to know." Agumon muttered, as he dove out of the room and to
 the turbolift, after Veemon. 

 Patamon hovered in, yawning. "Hey, Raul. You up? What was Agumon doing?" 

 Raul snatched up TK's D3 from the desk and copied it, handing it to Patamon.
 "..oh, wait a minute, you can't carry this. Use... Takeru's backpack." Raul
 strapped TK's light bag to Patamon's back. 

 "Eh.. Raul... what's going on here?" Patamon questioned. Raul drove the
 needle into Patamon's back, Patamon letting loose a high-pitched wail. Raul
 covered Patamon's mouth to avoid waking TK. 

 "Agumon is headed for the engine room," Raul whispered. "Go after him." 

 "...why?" 

 "Do it." 

 Patamon hovered away, somewhat perplexed. "..um... yeah, I'll do that..." 




 ******** 




 Veemon was reaching for a large lever on the J3 when he stopped to hear
 rapid footsteps in the background. "Veemon!! What are you doing?!" He turned
 to find Agumon behind him, panting. "Veemon, what are you doing up at this
 time of night?" 

 Veemon slowly started backing toward the J3, leaning up against it.
 "..I'm.... I'm...." 

 Agumon stepped up. "Veemon, if it's about Gatomon, don't worry about it! In
 the morning we'll get everyone together and go after her, and..." 

 Patamon hovered in. "..Agumon? Veemon? What's going on here?" 

 When Agumon turned back to Patamon, Veemon whipped around and hammered a
 large button on the surface of the J3. Slowly, the J3 crackled to life and
 the panel on the front lit up. "Third dimension!" Veemon wailed. "And hurry
 it up!!" 

 Patamon's eyes grew wide. "..V-Veemon?! What are you doing?!" 

 A breeze slowly accumulated in the room as the portal opened up. As the wind
 speed began to rise, Veemon took one last look back at his comrades before
 plunging himself into the technicolor tunnel ahead of him. Veemon and the
 portal disappeared right in front of Agumon and Patamon's eyes. 

 Agumon fired around to Patamon. "Get Ultimanium! Now!!" 

 Patamon nodded, and rushed through the air over to the turbolift. 


















 MISSION #4 - Veemon's Vengenance 


 Commando operative mission. Infiltrate Techno Tower and locate/rescue Chosen
 Gatomon. Use of lethal force is authorized. Danger level is classified under
 Defcon 15. VEEMON alone will assault the center and claim operative GATOMON.
 Alone assault is highly discouraged, and reinforcements may be necessary. 

 Secondary objective - Assassinate Ultramagnus. 

 Good luck. 































 Veemon lowered a foot down onto the rough, polluted soil outside of
 Magnopolis. He would have to continue from hereonin on foot. Since the raid
 of the laboratory in the second Argetlahm mission, an anti-dimensional
 barrier was placed around the city to deter any dimensional shifts into and
 outside the barrier. Which wasn't to say Veemon wasn't ready to go the
 distance. 

 Veemon... digivolve to.... 
 EXVEEMON!! 

 "Let's see you get by sheer rage, Ultramagnus," Exveemon scowled as he began
 to make his way down the hill to the city entrance. By the entrance to the
 newly-domed city were a pair of androids. Upon sight of Exveemon, the robots
 took aim with their energy blasters and began firing. Exveemon effortlessly
 sidestepped the beams and began a charge at the city guards. It didn't take
 him very long to get to the first guard and rip his head off, then he turned
 and used the lifeless body to absorb a laser blast from the other android.
 Exveemon drove a fist through the second android's body and tossed it to the
 side. 

 "V-Laser!!" Exveemon yelled, letting loose a barrage of light that blasted
 apart the massive city gates. The heavy chrome doorplates crashed to the
 ground, grabbing the attention of several more androids. Exveemon flung one
 through a nearby building window, and shrugged two more off. Exveemon wasn't
 losing stamina as he continued through the city streets, fighting the
 androids he could and avoiding the ones he couldn't. As he closed in on the
 city square, he had trounced nearly 50 androids barehanded. 


 Exveemon looked up, up, at the massive tower that arced up into the sky
 before him. "....Techno Tower - Magnopolis Center. This is the place."
 Exveemon cocked his head back to examine the top of the tower once more.
 Different colored beams stretched from the four corners of the city and
 connected at the top of the tower. There was clearly something up there, but
 it had to be left to Exveemon's imagination. He had to find Gatomon. 










 ******** 








 "So Veemon went to the third dimension?" Ultimanium sighed, sitting in the
 capship chair. It slowly turned to face Patamon and Agumon. "This is
 interesting." 

 "What are we going to do about him?" Agumon asked impatiently. "There's no
 telling what kind of crap he could get into down there!" 

 Ultimanium rubbed his chin. "Indeed... you wished to go down there to assist
 him?" 

 "No," Patamon squeaked. "We hoped to get him out of there before he gets
 killed!! What's wrong with you, don't you even care for your own teammates
 any more?!" Patamon buckled under the weight of TK's backpack slightly. 

 "It's not that," Ultimanium spoke. "I want you two to go keep Veemon safe.
 This oppritunity is perfect for testing out Veemon's new abilities." 

 Agumon tilted his head to the side. "...abilities?" 

 "I gave Veemon two shots recently... one was to destroy his digivolution
 restraints and the other... well, that'll have to wait. Anyways, the genetic
 material that allowed anyone to digivolve a digimon was taken from the
 genetic makeup from another familiar digimon." 

 Everybody waited. 

































 "...Wormmon. Veemon is carrying Wormmon's genetic material inside of his
 body." 

 "Wait, wait, wait!" Patamon interrupted. "Are you saying he can DNA
 digivolve by himself?!" 

 Ultimanium nodded. "Yes. However, Veemon will only be able to combine the
 DNA fully when he is encountered by a situation that asks for it.
 Particularly dangerous ones, at most. I want him to DNA digivolve so he will
 be more powerful, and fighting for Gatomon is just the situation he needs.
 Agumon, Patamon, Lord Raul gave you the restraint vaccine too. I ask you to
 go down to the third dimension and escort Veemon." 

 After a long pause and exchanged stares, Agumon stepped forward. "We'll go."


 "Excellent," Ultimanium stated. "I will open the portal from my position. It
 will be open in the engine room. Get down there and catch up to Veemon as
 fast as you can." 

 Both digimon turned and split without so much as a word. 






 ******** 





 "Master," the protocol android hummed. "Our forces have detected a defensive
 breach of Magnopolis. It's Exveemon." 

 Ultramagnus drummed his fingers on the desk. "Let him get to me. I want to
 deal with him myself. How's Minonim doing?" 

 "Minonim's deletion will be occuring in one hour. Good riddance to rubbish."


 Ultramagnus laughed. "Excellent." 

 Minonim watched from his barrier confinement, next to Gatomon's. Slowly,
 Gatomon turned to him. "What're you in here for?" 

 Minonim sighed. "I couldn't say." 






 ******** 




 Exveemon flung the door open of the lobby and marched straight through. As
 he made his way to the elevator at the far end, several androids approached
 him. Exveemon simply spun around with his fist to his side, bursting through
 the torsos of each android. As he reached for the top floor button, a beam
 of light flew from behind him and blew an android's arm off - one arm that
 was headed for Exveemon's head. He whipped around and checked behind him.
 Angemon and Wargreymon were standing there. 

 Wargreymon smirked. "What's wrong, can't have fun with us, huh?" 

 Angemon blew on his smoking hand. "We're coming with you, whether you like
 it or not." 




 Wargreymon, Angemon and Exveemon advanced up three more floors, Angemon and
 Wargreymon tiring out nearly instantly from the onslaught of androids that
 flushed them out. 

 "Hand of Fate!!" 

 A beam of light tore through the husk of an android, shattering it. "Damn
 it, Exveemon! How can you handle all this?!" 

 Exveemon said nothing, instead tearing through another crowd of androids.
 Gatomon is reason enough. "Can you at least get me up to the top floor? I'll
 worry about Gatomon." 

 Angemon and Wargreymon stopped. "This entire thing is about Gatomon?" 

 Exveemon froze. ..heh.. shouldn'tve said that. "...well... yeah." 

 Wargreymon pointed forward. "Onward, then, in Veemon's mission to score!!" 

 Angemon leapt forward, combating another group of robots. "I'm doing this
 for the team!!" 

 Exveemon blinked. Was this happening? These guys just plain flat-out
 accepted his own motive! Maybe they would be worthwhile to take to the top.
 "Alright, guys! Let's hit it! Upwards!!" 

 Wargreymon smiled. "About time he talked." Using a claw, Wargreymon tore the
 elevator car and tossed it to his side. Everybody hovered up the long shaft
 to the top floor. 




 ******** 



 Ultramagnus slammed his hand down on the desk. "What the hell?! What are
 they doing here?!?" 

 "I have no idea, sir," the protocol droid droned. "perhaps we should install
 some better security on the top floors?" 

 "I don't get it!!" Ultramagnus yelled. "Veemon was supposed to be the only
 one coming!! He's got Mechagodzilla and fairy-man with him now, too! ... not
 to worry, we have plenty of defense left for them to go through..."
 Ultramagnus pushed a button on his desk. The entire roof of the building
 slowly slid off, exposing Ultramagnus' expansive office to the open air. He
 reached over for a microphone embedded in the desk. "Kaiser! Warp
 Megakimeramon up here!" 

 "Too late, Ultramagnus!" Exveemon bellowed. "We have you right where we want
 you!" 

 Ultramagnus turned in his chair to see Wargreymon, Exveemon and Angemon
 standing at the other end of his expansive office. 

 Gatomon knocked on her barrier. "Guys!! Am I glad to see you!" 

 "I see the welcome wagon has arrived." Minonim hummed. 





 Ultramagnus smirked. "Well, well. If it isn't Exveemon. I wasn't expecting
 you to make it up Techno Tower this far." 

 Wargreymon stepped forward, a minor Terra Force ready in his left hand. "Let
 Gatomon go, and we'll see reason not to hurt you." 

 "My, my. I'm shaking in my corporate foundation! I wouldn't worry too much,
 guys. It's not me you're going to be dealing with!! Megakimeramon!!" 

 All the digimon looked up at the gigantic shadow looming over Techno Tower.
 A gigantic monster was blocking what sunlight was managing to break through
 the clouds of pollution. "Friends," Ultramagnus laughed. "I'd like you to
 meet Megakimeramon!! 



 *As Megakimeramon lowers itself down upon Techno Tower, everybody can
 finally make out its features. It appeared just as Kimeramon - six arms,
 gruesome face, thick stumpy legs... however, the skin of the digital monster
 is made completely out of fused genes from over 50 species of digimon...
 many of them ones owned by the previous Digidestined from this dimension.* 


 MEGAKIMERAMON  -  5th Stage Mega Digimon 



 Wargreymon backed away. "..5th... level Mega?!" 

 Ultramagnus' yellow hair flapped in the uproaring wind generated by the
 hovering Megakimeramon. "Ah, yes. A true wonder of modern science,
 Megakimeramon is. I don't recall there being any controlled digimon that
 powerful..." Ultramagnus turned to the group. "At least out of ones present.
 I was hoping to breed Gatomon to Megakimeramon to create a 6th stage Mega,
 but I think that's out of my reach now, thanks to cretins like you." 

 Exveemon nodded. "That's what he said in my dream. That's what drove me
 here." 

 Angemon turned. "What, being afraid someone was going to screw Gato before
 you?" 

 "Shut up!" Wargreymon commanded. "We have no time for this! We have to deal
 with Megakimeramon!" 

 Ultramagnus rested on his desk. "Well, I think Megakimeramon might have a
 bit to say about that. Hey! Megakimeramon! These weaklings want to stop you
 from mating with Gatomon!!" 

 Megakimeramon peered down at Ultramagnus with an expression of nervousness
 on his face. 

 Ultramagnus growled. "You're not going to let that happen!! Right?!" 

 Megakimeramon let loose a deafening shriek. 

 "Thought so!! Get them before they get you!!" 

 Angemon looked up at the diving Megakimeramon. "Uh oh." He shot out of the
 way as Megakimeramon drove a claw into the floor of Techno Tower, blasting
 off most of the top five floors. The force fields with Minonim and Gatomon
 hovered in midair a short distance away from the wrecked tower alongside
 Ultramagnus and his new servant. 

 "Master!!" Minonim yelped. "You can't have a fight like this over the city!!
 People'll be hurt!!" 

 "Quit your damn whining, Minonim!!!" Ultramagnus bellowed. "You're jinxing
 us!!" 



 Exveemon, Angemon and Wargreymon hovered in the air, lined up. 

 "V-Laser!!" 
 "Hand of Fate!!" 
 "Terra Force!!" 

 Exveemon and Angemon's attacks deflected harmlessly off of Megakimeramon's
 tough hide. The only attack to have any noticable effect was Terra Force,
 which impacted against Megakimeramon with an earth-shattering explosion,
 knocking Megakimeramon back in the air some. However, he ricocheted right
 back against the attack and swiped at Wargreymon. Wargreymon, being more
 agile than the other digimon in the air, was able to dodge the attacks with
 relative ease. Both Exveemon and Angemon wailed on Megakimeramon from the
 other direction, if having little to no effect. Megakimeramon threw an elbow
 back, nailing Angemon in the gut. As Angemon plunged down to the ground
 below, Exveemon and Wargreymon watched in shock. 

 "Damn it!!" Wargreymon yelled. "Don't go down already!!" 

 As Angemon fought to regain his balance, he flew once again into the fray
 and landed a blow on Megakimeramon's back with the Angel Wand. However,
 Megakimeramon launched another grasping attack with his claw. "Kaiser
 Crusher!!" 

 "Angemon!!" Exveemon shouted. "Keep it up!!" 

 Can't lose now. These are my friends I'm talking about here. I can't go down
 so easy, just because... 

 "Angemon!!" Lord Raul bellowed. "Catch!!" 

 Lord Raul, just shown up, hovered in midair off in the distance. He threw a
 slip in his hand as hard as he could to Angemon, catching it. 

 "...this.... this is the Crest of Hope!! Where did you get this?!" 

 "Some old guy named Crazy Gennai. Quit worrying about it and fight! Use the
 crest!!" 


 Ultramagnus' eyes grew wide. "LORD RAUL?!" 

 As Megakimeramon advanced on the concentrating Angemon, a minor Terra Force
 fireball flew into him, knocking him down lower and stunning him. "Hurry up,
 Angemon!" Wargreymon muttered. "I can't keep him busy for long!!" 


 Angemon... digivolve to... 
 MAGNAANGEMON!! 


 MagnaAngemon dove straight at Megakimeramon, armed blades flailing. The
 purple spires impacted against Megakimeramon, sending him down towards the
 ground again. MagnaAngemon kept the lock down as he threw Megakimeramon
 straight down into the highway beneath him. 

 Wargreymon looked up. "Exveemon! Worry about Ultramagnus! Me and
 MagnaAngemon'll take care of Megakimeramon!!" 

 Exveemon lunged straight at Ultramagnus, still caught off guard from Lord
 Raul's arrival. Still, he was informed enough to defend against Exveemon's
 hard punch that sailed his way. "Not so fast." Ultramagnus scowled. He
 grabbed Exveemon by the arm and slung him into a nearby skyscraper, Exveemon
 shooting out the other side. He quickly regained his bearings and rightened
 himself to dodge a blow from Ultramagnus, smashing straight into the
 building that he was once against. Ultramagnus quickly whipped around and
 delivered a hard backhand to Exveemon, sending him spiraling toward the
 ground, at least momentairly. 

 Ultramagnus dove down at the dazed Exveemon. "Die already!!" He went in a
 frenzy of punches and kicks, all hitting Exveemon. Exveemon was sent
 straight into the ground beneath him. Ultramagnus dusted his hands. "Good
 enough." 



 As he began to walk away, he didn't quite take in the enraged Exveemon
 behind him. 

 "Oh, yes. Exveemon. Haven't had enough yet? I see you're quite a match for
 my first form. Maybe you're physically tough, yes... but tell me..." 

 The barrier around Gatomon disappeared. She screamed as she began her
 descent from the heavens. Quite quickly, I must add. 

 "Do you have heart?" 

 Exveemon's eyes grew wide. "GATOMON!!" He took off into flight, skimming
 down across the street ahead of him. As he neared Gatomon's position, she
 was already a good ways toward the ground. 

 Ah ah ah ah ah.. nononononononono!! I can't let this happen!! GATOMON!! I'M
 NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!! Exveemon shot forward, faster than he believed he had
 ever flown straight before. Fighting through the air, he closed his eyes,
 expecting to have come to his destination... and Gatomon fell into his arms.


 Exveemon had his eyes closed, teeth grit. 

 Gatomon blinked. "....Exveemon?" 

 Exveemon opened his eyes, not expecting to see Gatomon there. His eyes
 watered slightly. ".......eh.... hi?" 

 Ultramagnus fumed. "Curses!! You like her more than I thought! I'll just
 have to kill her myself!!" 

 Exveemon turned to Ultramagnus, outraged. "...YOU..." His D3 began to glow. 



 ******** 



 Davis was awakened by the soft blue glow that radiated from the screen. He
 had seen it before, alright. It was a DNA digivolve. 



 ******** 




 Exveemon.... Stingmon.... DNA digivolve to... 
 PAILDRAMON!! 



 Ultramagnus backed away. "...huzzah?!" 

 "Desperado Blaster!!" Bolts of light impacted against Ultramagnus, sending
 him flying back through a shop window. Slowly, Ultramagnus fought back,
 deflecting the blasts of energy rocketing from Paildramon. 

 "I can't believe this!!" Ultramagnus screamed. "What else could go wrong?!" 

 Megakimeramon smashed down into the pavement behind Ultramagnus, part of him
 deleting. Wargreymon and MagnaAngemon both dropped out of the sky on top of
 him and pounded away at the grounded Mega. Bit by bit, Megakimeramon began
 losing energy. 

 Ultramagnus looked around hesitantly. "..D..damn you!! Damn you all!! Don't
 think you've got away with this, freaks!! I'll be back... you wait..." With
 a gesture, Ultramagnus disappeared into thin air, with some crackles of
 energy. 


 Gatomon waited down on the ground, while everybody else dedigivolved.
 Minonim hovered down to their position. 

 Veemon, Agumon and Patamon all centered around Gatomon. Minonim settled next
 to Gatomon. "Eh..." Agumon mumbled. "Gatomon, you have an probe next to
 you." 

 Gatomon nodded. "I'm quite aware of that. Everybody, say hello to Minonim." 

 Minonim's eye sensors lit up. "Hello, Argetlahm crew. It is a pleasure to
 meet you. I am Minonim, a past advisor to Ultramagnus. However, recently I
 was imprisoned for my ideas of peace that often conflicted with those of
 Ultramagnus. I was scheduled to be executed today, but I was held captive in
 relative proximity to Gatomon, so we were able to get to know each other
 before you all arrived. I would like to know if you would like my presence
 aboard the Argetlahm." 

 Patamon looked away. "...I don't know.." 

 Minonim bobbed in the air. "You would find me a very valued commodity. I
 have information on all the android models that Ultramagnus uses, as well as
 some military databanks. I think this information would be extremely
 appreciated by Ultimanium." 

 Lord Raul landed a ways away from the group. "Welcome aboard, Minonim." 

 Minonim lit up. "Oh, gracious thanks! I will work hard for your cause. Show
 me to your capital ship." 

 Raul looked back at the digimon. "We'll go ahead. Hurry up, we have to get
 back to the Argetlahm." 

 Agumon waved. "We'll be right there!" 



 As Lord Raul and Minonim made their way off into the distance, Gatomon
 looked back at her friends. "...everybody... I don't know what to say. I
 didn't think anyone was going to come for me." 

 Agumon scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well, it was all Veemon's
 idea." 

 Patamon winked. "You know, Veemon, courageous type and all." 

 Veemon sweatdropped. "...um.. yeah, what they said." 

 Gatomon smiled. "Veemon planned all this?" 

 Agumon and Patamon stood behind Veemon, pointing at him. Veemon glanced
 around nervously. 





 Yessir, Veemon was the hero, or that was at least what Agumon and Patamon
 wanted Gatomon to believe, anyways. It worked. 


 Gatomon reached forward and pulled Veemon into a deep kiss. Both sides
 disembarked at around the 15 second mark. 



 Agumon dusted his hands. "Well, that was fun. Hey, Patamon, let's get back
 to the Argetlahm so we can wash these cooties off, huh?" 

 "I'm up for that." Patamon snickered, nodding. 












 ******** 









 So that's how things went. After a lengthly operation, all the digimon
 returned to the Argetlahm for a long rest, as well as a serious talking-to
 from their masters. Everybody was happy once again (Veemon = ecstatic), and
 relaxing ensued. Still, however, the fact was true - Ultramagnus was out
 there, and he wasn't beaten. His master plan had not yet been set in motion,
 and its effects would be drastic. 


 Only time will tell where Ultramagnus and Ultimanium draw the line. Until
 then, stay tuned for more Argetlahm Adventures!! 



 END OF CHAPTER 12 








 (A/N - Hmm.. A fight. Ain't I original? ;) Don't worry, thing'sll pick up
 soon, and maybe someone other than the Digimon cast will get time in the
 spotlight. Disclaimer addition... Raul's various never-before-seen attacks
 were requested by him to hail from yet another anime... whoever owns
 Slayers, I'm talking to you. If anyone here also reads the Sword of Truth
 book series, expect some other familiars. Please don't hurt me, if you have
 any uncontrollable rage to expend, do so on Lord Raul. Thank you.) 










 Argetlahm Training Gym 
 Day 15, 12:53 PM 






 Lord Raul stepped cautiously into the training gym, not apparently ready to
 apprehend its condition. Raul scowled to himself as he eyed the various
 dents in the wall, wood chips from the floor lying in various places of the
 gym, and other general mayhem spread evenly throughout the main training
 room. The siderooms, including the weight room, target range and tech
 library were all organized properly, books in shelves alphabetically,
 weights lined up on racks, various guns, assault rifles and a bazooka
 embracing properly in their storage containers. At least the Chosen could
 give the other rooms a bit more respect than the gym. He walked over to the
 bench against the wall and picked up his text, runic writing covering its
 hardcover. 

 Raul shrugged as he flipped through the pages. "It's been a while since I
 got in here... maybe I'm a bit rusty. We'd better just start off with
 something basic... let's see..." He stopped on page 54, writing scribed on
 the tattered sheet ahead of him in bizarre lettering. Raul reached behind
 him with his free hand and unsheathed a large dark-bladed sword from his
 back. "...Ragnarok. I was wondering if this had any enchantments... but I'd
 better end that speculation." 

 Raul slowly brought the sword a good distance in front of him, holding the
 book down to his side. 

 "Lord of Darkness and the Four Worlds!" Raul yelled. 
 I call upon you, 
 Grant me all the power that you possess! 
 BOOST!" 

 With a momentary deafening squeal, followed by a loud crack, several minor
 purple bolts of energy shot from the ground and pulsed into the Ragnarok's
 handle. Slowly but surely a black flame rose up around the blade of the
 Ragnarok, eventually containing the whole sword. Raul brought the sword up
 and directed it down back at the ground as hard as he could, sharp edge
 down. The Ragnarok bust down into the hardwood floor with an echoing
 splinter, though no special damages took place. 

 Raul frowned. "No enchantment. Oh well. Maybe I can sell this discount." He
 tossed the blade, with its dying flame, across the gym floor and into a
 corner. He turned as a light pierced into the room, Magnus walking in. "Late
 training session, huh? Or were you checking those swords again?" Magnus
 asked. 

 "Thric levex caex." Raul droned. 

 Magnus eyed his curiously before getting his point. "... 'No enchanted
 sword'? So you were in here with your weapons. Quit speaking your damn
 Draconian and get back to reality. I need to use this room for training." 

 "Thric renthisj, wux pothoc faessi!" Raul growled. "Vargach, sthyr ekess
 sthyr." 

 Magnus squinted, trying to make out Raul's arcane speech. ".... 'Shut up you
 stupid coward, fight, man to man.' .... oh, so that's how it is? We'll see
 about that... a spar it is, between you and me! Ha!" Magnus lit up in a
 yellow flame, his hair turning a bright topaz gold. "Super Saiyan and
 old-school mage. Now this'll be interesting." 

 A green light lit up in the distance. "No way in hell anyone starts a spar
 and doesn't invite me." Ultimanium walked up, body ablaze. "Super Saiyan,
 old-school mage, and a little bit of both. Let's see who leaves a victor." 



 ******** 



 Conker walked onto the bridge, looking around at the machinery around him.
 "...eh... Ultimanium... Goku was a bit spacesick back there, he threw up in
 the toilet, and we were wondering if you would help cle...." His eye caught
 onto a single lit up monitor on the console in front of him. "Well, what do
 we have here?" Conker drug up a swivel chair and peered down onto the
 display. "Weird.. It's all dark in the training room, all I can see is a red
 light, a yellow light and a green light... funny..." 

 As the lights became brighter, Conker could begin to make out the people
 encased in the brightness. "...Ultimanium? Lord Raul? Magnus? They're all
 there. But what's the deal with all the flames...?" 

 "A spar would be great," Ultimanium laughed. "We ourselves haven't got much
 time to practice since the Chosen have boarded the ship. Show me what you
 have learned." 

 Magnus nodded. "Show me what you guys learned." 

 All the flames shot high into the air as the three demigods began charging
 up. "Holy shit!" Conker yelped. "They're fighting! Everybody's gotta see
 this!" 

 Conker had enough time while Ultimanium and his sidekicks charged to go wake
 everybody in the male bunks. After 8 minutes, everybody returned to the
 bridge and looked over Conker's shoulder at the pitch-white panel beneath
 him. 

 TK scratched his head. "I don't know what's so violent about that." 

 Conker grinned. "They're getting too powerful. That flame that was around
 them has probably engulfed the entire gym by now." 

 "I suppose front-row seats are the only ones remaining," Gohan said. "Let's
 pay them a visit." 


 ******** 


 "Enough with the charging already!" Magnus yelled over top of the roaring
 outbursts of Ki energy that radiated from each combatant. "Let's get this on
 already!!" 

 Raul held his hands ready. I'd like to see someone pre-empt this. 

 "Wind which blows across eternity, 
 gather in my hands and become my strength! 
 BRAM GUSH!" 

 A ripple was seen momentarily in midair milliseconds before it slammed
 straight into Magnus, sending him back into the wall. He quickly bounded
 back down. "We didn't say start yet!!" 

 Ultimanium dove down on Magnus and drove a blue fist into his back, sending
 him down. Magnus quickly flipped out of the way to avoid a knee from
 Ultimanium crashing down into the hardwood floor where he once stood. Almost
 immediately, Ultimanium and Magnus turned to each other and started parrying
 punches and kicks from both sides. Ultimanium snuck a low jab into Magnus'
 gut, making him keel over for the second needed for Ultimanium to plant a
 roundhouse kick into his face. Magnus went down again, but supported himself
 and hurled himself to the back of the gym. "No fair!" 

 Raul grinned. "Who said we teamed?" 

 "You who crosses between sky and earth, 
 Gently flowing water, 
 Gather in my hand and give me power! 
 DEMONA CRYSTAL!" 

 Ultimanium glanced down at the floor nervously. A small foot-high fog cloud
 had already swamped the ground surfacee, rising slowly. Magnus hovered up in
 time before the mist crystallized, Ultimanium's helpless legs locking in the
 forming ice. "...damn." 

 "You said we weren't teaming!!" Magnus laughed, letting loose a wave of Ki
 blasts at the occupied Raul. A small blue energy surge pulsed through Raul's
 hand as a wall of wind formed instantly in front of him, sending the energy
 blasts off in different directions. Some impacted against the wall, others
 arced down and shot straight through the newly-formed ice rink surface,
 melting large sections of it. Ultimanium was finally able to free himself
 from the frozen trap to see Magnus bearing down on him. Grunting, Ultimanium
 pulsed several more Ki blasts at Magnus. He was able to deflect many of them
 before one exploded in his face, sending him up in the air more before
 falling to the ground. 

 TK burst through the door. "What's going on he... ... there's ice around
 here. Could someone tell me..." 

 Nobody noticed him. TK's eye caught on the Ragnarok, still lying in the
 corner of the gym. "...heh. No one saw this." He jogged over to the downed
 blade and picked it up with his two hands, hefting it over his shoulder. 

 Raul glanced at TK through the corner of his eye. "Takeru! Is everybody
 here?" 

 TK froze. "... well... the guys. Why?" 

 "How does a team battle sound to you?" Raul dodged out of the way again as
 Magnus shot by him. Raul dropped an elbow into Magnus' back, sending him
 down against the ground. Magnus quickly leaped from the ground to dodge a
 swarm of fists from Ultimanium. In a blink of an eye, Raul reached behind
 him and drew a sword from his back, a loud ring echoing through the room.
 Slowly he brought the flat edge of the blade to his head. 

 "...blade, be true to be this day.." Raul mumbed. 

 TK scratched his head. "I guess someone in sound FX is having fun with this,
 aren't they?" 

 Raul glared down at TK. "I'll explain it after. Get everybody in here." 

 Ultimanium brought his hands up as everybody hit the deck. "SHADOW SURGE!!"
 A large black laser tore through the air and pounded straight into the wall,
 dissiapating violently. TK was sent to the ground, as well as Serge, who
 just stumbled in. "What's going on here?" Serge yelled. 

 "Team fight," TK shouted. "Talk to Ultimanium." 

 "No way!" Magnus yelled, dodging blows from Ultimanium. "Serge is on my
 team, no doubt! And Goku! Get in here!!" 

 Goku stumbled in blindly, only to be broadsided by a Ki blast from
 Ultimanium. Goku was tossed like a rag doll into the wall across from him.
 Everybody outside turned and winced. Davis brought his Buster Sword high and
 charged into the gym, straight at TK. TK quickly brought up the heavy
 Ragnarok and barely deflected his first blow. TK wasn't exactly king with a
 sword, but he would have to learn fast. 


 "Dave!!" Conker bellowed. "What the hell are you doing?!" 

 Davis held the Buster Sword high, holding back an overhead swing from TK.
 "You heard the man! Take arms, tally ho, combat, gladiators!" 

 Raul stopped again and started concentrating. A white beam shot from his
 body and connected with TK's Ragnarok. A white flame erupted around it. 

 "Heeey!" TK laughed. "This is light now! Mwhahaha!!" TK brought the Ragnarok
 down on the Buster Sword again, sending an audible shock through it. A crack
 formed across the Buster's blade. Davis sweatdropped. 

 "...eh..." 

 Another hard swing from the Ragnarok busted the Buster Sword clean in half.
 Davis quickly dived and scooped up the Materia from the shattered weapon
 before rolling out of the way of TK's mad blade. 

 Cloud dropped to his knees and threw his arms to the sky.
 "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! My baby!! What have they
 done to you?!?" 

 Raul nodded "Astral Vine. Why?" Goku flew straight up from nowhere in
 particular and delivered an uppercut to Raul's unaware head. 

 Davis growled, clenching his fists. "So that's how you want to play, huh?!
 Just couldn't handle me being cooler than you, huh?! Let's see how you take
 this!!" Davis held the red materia from the handle of the Buster Sword to
 his forehead. "Ultimate End!!" 

 (A/N - Red materia?! Where did Davis get that? Read the epilogue to the
 original Ultimatum to find out!) 

 The fight began to slow down as the floor of the gym buckled, a barrier of
 blue mist shooting up from the ground beneath the chaos. TK stumbled to a
 stop. "...I don't like this..." The colors of his vision slowly began to
 meld together, revealing only a nebula ahead of him. "What the hell? I
 haven't even played FFVII for a year! What is this?!" 

 Before he could rant further, a knight dove out of the sky, conking TK on
 the back of the head with a battlestaff. "OW! Damn it! Ow!!" Merlin appeared
 in the sky above him and dropped a block of magic ice on his head. Various
 armored warriors charged at him with war hammers, shortswords, knives,
 staves, the such, beating TK repeatedly in random order. Slowly, the
 onslaught of what had to be the same 8 people crawled to a stop. TK rubbed
 his head. "About time. Now we can worry ab.." TK turned toward the darkness
 settling over the battlefield to see a gigantic warrior knight standing
 above him, bringing down a 30-foot sword of light on his head. "Eep.." 

 While Vegeta hauled the assault-delerious TK out of the gym, Conker lept in
 and nailed Raul in the gut. Magnus punched Ultimanium in the face. Squall
 kicked Karsh in the nads. Tai gave Serge a wedgie. Heero poked Goku in the
 eye. Rodent tripped Duo. Exveemon threw Gohan across the room. Cloud gave
 Cody a swirlie. Wargreymon lit Armadillomon on fire. Berri complained to
 herself. Kari gave Kid a nosebleed. Angemon beat Gatomon over the head with
 his Angel Wand. 

 "What are the girls doing up here?!" Davis screeched, shortly before Magnus
 tackled him. 

 "Like hell we could sleep with you assholes making all that racket!" Kid
 wailed, holding her nose. "Deliver some elemental hell, girls! We want to
 sleep at some point tonight, don't we?" Berri and Gatomon nodded. Berri
 focused a small light of energy within her hands. 

 "Gravity Blow!!" Berri yelled, shooting a large mass of rippling air at
 Davis, knocking him into the air in a triple flip before landing flat on his
 face. 

 "Photon Ray!!" Kari followed, firing a small beam of light from her hands.
 The light lit against Conker, lighting his sweater on fire. 

 "YAAAUUUGGGGHHH!!" Conker screamed. Cody threw a bucket of water on him. 

 "Hey, Cody!!!" Armadillomon wailed, still running around on fire. "Could I
 get some love over here?!" 

 Cody turned the bucket upside down. "Sorry, used it all." 

 "Well, get some more!" Duo remarked, holding Rodent to the ground while
 punching him in the face repeatedly. "Pyro-man here ain't done!" 

 "Oh, source of all power, light which burns beyond crimson, let thy power
 gather in my hand. FIREBALL!" Raul let loose a flaming ball of energy down
 on the ground beneath him before Vegeta knocked him out of the air with a
 pair of clenched fists. Everybody scattered accordingly as the explosion let
 loose wood shrapnel on the crowd. Raul started digging through his mind
 again as he plummeted to the ground. "Damn, I'm running out of mild spells.
 Better up the ante." 

 KRAASSSHHH 

 Off in the distance, Magnus and Ultimanium were locked in a fistfight.
 Again, Both power levels being astronomical and all, only the people with
 quick enough reflexes were able to track them - and even then, they were
 just a blur. Eventually, though, Ultimanium crept through Magnus' defenses
 and landed a hard punch to his chest, sending him back across the gym - and
 several of Goku's Ki blasts in hot pursuit. As Magnus slammed against the
 wall, Ki blasts began to bombard him. 

 "Gok.. OW!... you're o... AH! ... my te... YEEEOOW!... my team!!" 

 Off in the distance, outside of the entire fray, all that could be seen was
 a large dust cloud. Raul sat on a bench and flipped through the ancient text
 he left on the bench. "Lessee here... oh, missed a minor one. Source of all
 power, crimson fire burning bright. FLARE ARROW!" Without word, several
 darts of flame hovered in the air in front of Raul. With a gesture, he waved
 the arrows straight at the group, several heading straight through,
 others... well... stopping. 

 "DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT!!!!" Conker screeched. "Get it off get it off GET IT
 OFF SWEET JESUS DAMN IT FUCK CHRIST HOLY LOVIN'..." 

 The sprinkler system in the Argetlahm turned on, to Conker's relief. He
 threw the charred sweater to the ground as fast as he could. The fight
 continued, though the chill from the artificial rain slowed everybody down
 some. 

 Magnus gaped as his SSJ flame slowly died down. "Ah, hell! Why did you have
 to do that?" 

 Raul frowned. "...okay, let's try something else. Ooookay... It's around
 here somewhere..." 

 Squall put a hand forward. "Fira!!" A column of flame leaped from the floor
 enveloping Tai, but died down quickly. 

 Tai grinned. "Nice try." 

 Squall smiled as he got a somewhat demented idea. 

 "Thundaga!!" 


 ******** 


 The energy was just enough to blow the otherwise properly sealed doors of
 the training gym off their hinges. As the somewhat shocked (no pun intended)
 fighters made their way out into the hall, still fighting, the accumulated
 electrified water rushed from the demolished training room. Half of the crew
 backed down the hall, but then back up as both teams fought for control of
 the hall. 

 "Aquabeam!!" Serge chanted, as a spray of water from his hand shoved Angemon
 and Exveemon back. As the remainder of the group marched on them, Serge
 stumbled back into Goku. 

 "Hey, Serge," Goku sighed. "You takin' heat too? Why don't you use your Chi
 attack and... wait a minute." He stood upright and held his hands together
 above his head, concentrating. "Serge, I could use a boost here. Some Chi
 please?" 

 "But you use Ki..." 

 "Chi, Ki, no one knows the difference. We can channel the energy into a
 Spirit Bomb and change its energy frequency. We might be able to make it
 damage neutral forces, and with power like that, maybe we'll make these
 people shut up." 

 Both Goku and Serge began concentrating. 

 Magnus brought a fist down on Lord Raul, which he managed to parry. If it's
 melee you want, it's melee you'll get. Raul began focusing his energy
 between his hands as he started taking blows from Magnus straight to the
 head. The constant disruptions jarred his concentration some, but he was
 able to retain his surroundings enough to build up some sort of spiritual
 energy. 

 Ultimanium quickly scoured through Raul's text, which he had managed to save
 from the flooding of the gym. "Conker! Davis! Hold them off a while longer,
 I'm going to get us some spells." 

 "Well, hurry up! YAAAH!!" Davis dived out of the way as TK brought the
 Ragnarok down again where he stood, leaving a sizable slash in the hall's
 polished floor. 

 "Eh... heh.. Berri, can we talk about this?" Conker chuckled nervously. 

 "Your partying has to stop! I can't get to sleep like this!" Berri shot a
 Fireball element at Conker, which was easily dodged. 

 "I wasn't partying! Goku just threw up, and.. well... I wasn't going to
 throw up because I was drinking! Honest! Well, I was drinking that time..
 but that doesn't matter! I'm not drinking now, am I? I mean... aw, forget
 it." A ball of fire impacted against him, sending him down the hall and
 igniting him once again. "AAAAAUGGGGHHHHH!!! NOT AGAIN!!! HEEEEEEELP!!!" 

 Cody batted Conker out of the air with his Kendo stick as he approached
 Ultimanium. "Game over, man!" 

 Rodent stomped on Heero's foot, with a high-pitched yell following.
 (Heero's, duh) "What is this about, anyways?" 

 Magnus landed several more blows on Raul before his eyes opened... except
 they had a definate darkness radiating from them. A bad kind. Magnus just
 kind of sat there and stared. 

 "Lord of the Darkness and Four Worlds, I beseech thy fragments; 
 By all of the power thou possesseth, grant the heavens' wrath to my hand; 
 Unleash the sword of dark, freezing nothingness; 
 By our power, our combined might, let us walk as one along the path of
 destruction! 
 LAGUNA BLADE!" 

 A perfect black blade of energy radiated skywards from the gap in Raul's
 hands, topping itself off at around 10 feet. "Melee's your style? I'm game."
 Raul threw himself forward with the Laguna Blade standing by. Magnus hastily
 threw together a defense, blocking off a frenzy of slashes of the energy
 weapon. Every strike Raul landed against Magnus sent a shock of darkness
 through Magnus - devitalizing him fast. As the Laguna Blade started to wear
 off, Magnus was indeed losing vitality. As the Laguna Blade finally faded
 away, Magnus struggled to stand. 

 "...heh..." Magnus slurred. "... you got me there..." 

 Raul formed a spike of energy in his hand and hurled it at Magnus. The lance
 drove itself through Magnus, though no visible bleeding or even a gorge
 could be seen as the lance fell away. Magnus dropped to the ground
 unconscious. Raul dusted his hands. "Elmekia Lance, ultimate painkiller." 

 Davis dove at TK between a massive crushing swipe of the Ragnarok and
 delivered a hook to his face, making TK loosen his grip on the Ragnarok. As
 TK regained his balance and brought down the Ragnarok for another attack,
 Davis caught the flat ends of the blade over his head and struggled against
 TK for control of the blade. 

 Ultimanium bowed down, losing breath. "I think we've all had enough of this.
 Okay, guys, show's over, go to bed." 

 Everybody kept advancing on Goku and Serge, turning to deal each other blows
 occaisionally. 

 Serge breathed heavy. "I think I've done what I can do. Goku, you keeping up
 your end?" 

 Goku nodded. "I'm finished. Merge the two together." 


 ******** 


 Outside of the ship, the two balls of Chi and Ki merged together in the
 blackness of space. As they both contacted each other, a shockwave of light
 was let off and energy began channeling away from the ball of pure energy in
 surges of light. Both Serge and Goku placed their hands in front of them and
 launched the ball of energy at the ship, to no one else's notice. The attack
 impacted against the surface of the Argetlahm, washing it in a pitch-white
 light, roaring throughout its hallways. When the blinding light surfaced,
 Goku and Serge opened their eyes. Everybody was cowering at the light that
 was slowly dying down in Goku and Serge's hands. 

 Everybody slowly stood and stared. Serge glanced over to Goku. 

 "And that," Goku laughed nervously. "Is the power of us. Don't piss either
 of us off with this useless fighting and get back to bed." 

 The group shrugged and made their way to their bunks. 

 Goku snickered to himself. "The Spirit Bomb doesn't affect good. If it can
 make everybody here nearly fall unconscious.." 

 Serge nodded. "Think what it could do to Ultramagnus." 

 "We have to try that sometime," Goku yawned, stretching. "Still, I've had
 enough for one night. I'm bunking." 

 "Yeah," Serge sighed. They both made their way to their respective bunks for
 the night. 






 As you might imagine, with Goku and Serge keeping watch, no one is going to
 cause any more trouble tonight. Will the combined spirits of Goku and
 Serge's Planet Buster attack ever reappear? Sure it will. That's all for
 now.. but Ultramagnus... has anyone even stopped to consider what he might
 be doing and where he possibly could be right now? 













 ******** 












 "The continent of Server." Ken droned. 

 "You speak of the Digital World," Ultramagnus mumbled. "What more of it? We
 had the entire Digital World destroyed after the digidestineds' defeat at
 the hands of MaloMyotismon. Not one Digimon in this dimension remains save
 for the genetic samples in your lab. What could the Digital World warrant
 that would interest me?" Ultramagnus put his feet back on his card table.
 "Asides from chars." 

 Ken looked around at his enviroments hesitantly. Since the destruction of
 Ultramagnus' primary headquarters, office operations were moved to a smaller
 office building on the outskirts of Magnopolis. 

 "Not about that. There may be a Digital World left for you to pillage." 

 Ultramagnus turned to Ken. "Go on." 

 Ken placed a stack of papers down on the desk. "My R&D division has been
 hard at work surveying the Digiworld and has come up with some new theories
 that you may find interesting. The old Digidimensional theory stated that
 the Digiworld was a subdimension of each individual primary dimension." 

 "I don't think I was here to listen to that. What did they mean?" 

 Ken shrugged. "Simple enough, when a person ventures into the Digiworld,
 they retain multi-dimensional movement, being able to move freely around and
 such, but to anyone else surveying their travels it is simply represented as
 binary coding. You're a dimension lower, but you can still experience the
 freedoms of your previous world. We mentioned the equation necessary to
 figure out something like that as the average between the dimension
 currently resided in and the Digiworld being accessed. 3rd dimension + 2nd
 dimension = 5th dimension/2 = 2.5. Think jumping half a dimension back and
 youd've wound up in the Digital World." 

 Ultramagnus frowned, beginning to show confusion. Anyone who knew
 Ultramagnus did not want to confuse him, at least if they valued their
 lives. "Point being?" 

 "That brings us to our new theory. Upon further investigation the
 dimensional barriers in the digital world were even more fragile than the
 ones in the real world half a dimension up. We tried using the J2 to jump
 dimensions while in the digital world and made it to the 3.5 dimension
 digital world with little effort. That digital world is still going strong
 and would be the perfect plate to set up a beachfront for our attack on the
 real fourth dimension, with the overall lack of digidestined worldwide to
 defend against powers such as ours. I see a new headquarters in your
 future." 

 Ultramagnus grinned. "With your D3 we can access the Digital World in this
 dimension, correct?" 

 Ken nodded. "Yes. However, with a downgraded D3 like this one, I will not be
 able to open a gate into the fourth dimension, though. We would need a D3
 from the fourth dimension digidestined to get through." 

 Ultramagnus clenched a fist. "Ultimanium has most of them." 

 "There are some remaining, though. Quite a few. We should be able to sneak
 in with the J2 and kidnap some, however. I suppose a covert operation is in
 order?" 

 "Yes, Kaiser," Ultramagnus laughed. "A covert operation." 















 Who exactly is Ultramagnus talk about? Will the Argetlahm Chosen be able to
 stop Ultramagnus and Kaiser Ken's plans for the fourth dimension
 digidestined? Find out next time on Argetlahm Adventures!! 


 END OF CHAPTER 13 









 Argetlahm Bunks 
 Day 17, 7:44 AM 







 "... okay... 7 dollars... 34 cents... a dried pen... a wallet picture of
 Kari... some lint... is that good enough?" 

 "Hell no." Raul mumbled. 

 Davis stamped his foot down angrily and stood to leave the bunk, scowling.
 TK stepped in, carrying the Ragnarok. "Hey, Davis. Trying for a refund?" 

 "Shut up." Davis growled. 

 Raul looked up. "Hey, Takeru, give him the Ragnarok for a while." 

 "But why?" 

 "Don't worry. I'll get you something better after. Just give it to him." 

 TK looked the other way as he passed the Ragnarok over to Davis. Davis took
 it up immediately and latched his materia onto it. "Heh.... hey, this is
 lighter than the Buster Sword. You can bust up my Buster again for all I
 care." He hoisted the blade up onto his shoulder before he left the room. 

 TK glared back at Raul. "I wanted that." 

 "I have a far more powerful sword in storage," Raul said. "I'll show it to
 you after. I believe Ultimanium will ask for our presence on the bridge
 shortly..." 

 The intercom crackled into action as Lord Raul finished his sentence. "All
 Argetlahm personnel report to the war room right away. Priority 2. I repeat,
 all Argetlahm personnel report to the war room immediately." 







 ******** 





 Ultimanium grinned as Tai settled into his seat. "Glad to see you're all
 here." 

 Everybody groaned out a barely audible "hello". 

 Magnus phased in and slapped his hands together. "We have the teams
 prepared?" 

 "You have them listed, don't you?" 

 Magnus glanced at a sticky note taped on his hand. "All present and
 accounted for." 

 Ultimanium turned back to the crowd. "Do you all know why you're here?" 

 Again, everybody moaned out a "no". 



 "Well," Ultimanium sighed. "It seems morale has dropped considerably since
 we boarded the Argetlahm. I can't say that's been terribly good for our
 missions so far. We have only completed the first and last ones successfully
 so far, if you have forgotten. I will have to re-evaulate your Chosen status
 if you wish to remain aboard the Argetlahm. I asked myself, how can I
 counteract this? The only thing I could think of is to grant you more power,
 I'm afraid. Remember, any more screwups and you're dead." 

 Everybody jumped to their feet with an accompanying "wha?". 

 Agumon gulped. "What, do you mean you're going to be killing people off?!" 

 "Now that's just harsh!" Cloud wailed. 

 Magnus folded his arms. "Well, maybe if you completed your missions properly
 we wouldn't have to resort to such methods, now, would we?" 

 "I want to make this as quick and painless as possible," Ultimanium spoke.
 "Magnus has constructed several tests for me to assign to you. All of you
 will be accordingly rewarded for their efforts today. Take it away, Magnus."


 Magnus stepped forward to the hologram projector as it began to light up,
 showing a map of the Argetlahm. "I will be giving you a series of tasks to
 accomplish aboard the Argetlahm throughout the day. I've collaberated with
 our friend Lord Raul here and his weapon business and he's willing to offer
 discounts and some other.. ahem... services each group that can win these
 challenges. Everyone game?" 

 Everybody nodded. 

 "First dibs on benefits are granted to those who win. Understood? Good. Form
 your teams, then come to me. That is all." 


 The crowd lept from their seats and huddled. 



 "Me, Veemon and Conker." Davis whispered. 

 Conker shrugged. "Can't say I'll be much help. Ultimanium banned my control
 over the Argetlahm for the time being, so if you were expecting any special
 perks, I hate to disappoint you." 

 Davis grit his teeth. "Damn. Oh well." 



 TK glanced around the crowd. "...uh.... Karsh? You chosen yet?" 

 Karsh swung his axe over his shoulder. "Can't say I've been. Who else are
 you gonna choose?" 

 "Digimon count, TK." Patamon squeaked, grasping himself on TK's shoulder. 



 Cody counted on his fingers. "Me, Squall, Cloud and Armadillomon." 

 Squall nodded. "Gotcha." 

 "You can count on us!" Armadillomon chirped. 


 "Berri, Kid hands down." Kari said. "and Gatomon." 


 "Wha?" Davis stammered. "We can have as many as we want? We're taking Goku
 then, and Izzy." 

 "Whatever," TK scowled. "Vegeta! Get your ass over here! Tentomon! We need
 to even out the teams!" 

 "Not with punk-ass over there." Vegeta growled, glaring at Karsh. 


 Tai shrugged. "I guess I'm with Serge and Rodent then. And Agumon." 

 "Someone forgot us," Duo muttered. 

 "Duo," Ultimanium announced. "Go with Tai. Heero will go with Cody." 






 TEAM LISTING 

 1 - Davis, Veemon, Conker, Goku, Izzy 
 2 - TK, Karsh, Vegeta, Patamon, Tentomon 
 3 - Cody, Squall, Cloud, Armadillomon, Heero 
 4 - Kari, Berri, Kid, Gatomon 
 5 - Tai, Serge, Rodent, Agumon, Duo 





 Gohan sat up. "Me?" 

 "I guess we're balanced out as far as teams go," Ultimanium said. "You can
 sit out this round. You'll probably be stressed by the next challenge." 

 Everybody stood and walked to Ultramagnus, blurting their team plans into
 his ear as they passed by. They all returned to their seats. 

 "Well, glad to see we're all set," Magnus laughed. "Ultimanium, will you
 leave us be?" As Magnus finished speaking, Ultimanium began shifting
 offstage, returning to the bridge. 

 Goku slumped back in his chair. "Can we get this over with?" 

 Magnus nodded. "Yes. Listen up, everyone. You can start your first
 assignment in a couple seconds... 






 The hologram projector lit up, showing the exterior of the Argetlahm.
 "Listen up, everybody," Magnus spoke. "The first assignment will be
 generally easy. Several flags have been hidden around the ship, and each
 team will be given a clue as to where their flag is on the ship. First
 person to return with their flag gets some discount money added to their
 pot. Understood?" 

 Everybody nodded. Manila tag slips landed in the laps of the digidestined.
 Everybody from each group quickly huddled around their leaders and peered
 down on the clues. As soon as the people broke their huddles, they darted
 off around the Argetlahm in search of the flags. 
















 "Where reality draws the line." Tai mumbled as he looked over the card.
 "Anyone know what this means?" 

 "Can't say we do," Duo sighed, flopping down on the rec room couch. "I
 haven't been here for all the reality speeches Ulty gave you. Don't look at
 me." 

 Serge tapped his head. "Where reality draws the line.... where reality draws
 the line... what could that mean, like a single line of pure reality? I
 wonder..." 

 Rodent jumped up. "Single line of reality! Don't any of you know what that
 means? Outside! In the second dimension all you have is width and length.
 That line of light that always stretches across the horizon! The flag is
 somewhere outside the ship!" Everybody turned and glanced out the large
 observation window in the rec room. Indeed, a single line of light streaked
 across the horizon, with perfect blackness above and below it. 

 Agumon rubbed his chin. "Wait a minute, the anti-dimensional barrier is
 radiating further from the ship than normal! It probably is out there!" 

 "Then what are we waiting for?" Tai yelled. "We have to get out there!" 

 Serge tapped Tai on the shoulder. "Eh... Tai.. you're forgetting something."


 "What?" 

 "We can't get out there. There's no hazard suits we can use." 

 Duo climbed out of his seat. "I can get out there. I have access to the
 DeathHarvest." 

 "Well, then," Agumon sighed. "We'll just send him out there to find the
 flag. I'm not sure if there's anything we can do." 











 "A tome of digital secrets," Kari spoke. "Locked away for a lifetime,
 finally having left its roost. What the heck does that mean?" 

 "What is Magnus talking about?" Berri asked. "Does he mean some sort of,
 like, computer database that's missing?" 

 "Looks too damn organized to notify us about missing computer information,"
 Kid scowled. "It's written in handwriting. Pretty extravagent stuff, too." 

 Gatomon sprung up. "I have a pretty good idea of what he means. Digital
 secrets, finally leaving its roost. My diary's still missing. We have to
 find it." 

 "It could be anywhere though," Kari sighed. "We're not going to be able to
 find it, at least quickly." 

 "Conker told me the Argetlahm has a pretty severe security system," Berri
 smirked. "He says that he can detect weapons that passengers wield in their
 bunks using a shipwide metal detector. The diary has a metal lock, right?" 

 Gatomon tilted her head. "Gold." 

 "Good enough. Let's go talk to Ultimanium." 












 "Nothing original here," Davis read. "Let's just say you'll have to go down
 into a warzone to find this flag." He tossed the tag down. "I hope he
 doesn't mean the third dimension." 

 "I guess we don't have much of a choice," Goku sighed. "We have to go down
 and operate the J3 ourselves." 

 "Maybe not," Conker groaned. "Ulty programmed a lock into the J3 to keep it
 from shifting without his supervision. We're going to have trouble getting
 the J3 to work. If we had someone who could bypass it, though..." 

 Everybody glared at Izzy. 

 Izzy grinned. "About time I get recognized for my abilities. C'mon, let's
 go." 

 "The J3 is downstairs," Conker said. "The engine room. I have access down
 there." 










 "You have been chosen to participate in my skyhigh challenge," TK read.
 "What the hell does that mean?" 

 Vegeta leaned against a nearby wall. "Idiot, he means that the flag is
 hidden in a high position on the Argetlahm. Tell me, what is the highest
 room in the ship?" 

 Patamon hovered up. "There was a bunch of vents open in the training gym
 celing that weren't before. When I asked Ulty what he was doing with them
 open, he never told me. That's where the flag is, and even if it isn't,
 we'll be closer to it." 

 "Indeed." Tentomon buzzed. 

 "Excuse of me? Some of us don't have a way up there." Karsh growled. 

 "Quit your damn whining, infidel," Vegeta scowled. "If you'd quit bitching
 maybe you would find a way up there." 

 TK sweatdropped as the two aggravants advanced on one another, yelling at
 each other. "..maybe we should break them up." 

 Patamon... digivolve to... 
 ANGEMON!! 

 TK leaped back. "Yaaahh!! Patamon!! How the hell did you do that on your
 own?!" 

 "No time to explain," Angemon said. "I'll haul TK up. Vegeta, carry Karsh up
 there." 

 "Whaat?!" Karsh bellowed. "No fricking way!!" 












 "The golden prize awaits those who can fix the machine," Cody sighed.
 "Sounds easy enough." 

 Cloud's eyes grew wide. "Did you read that wrong?" 

 Cody shrugged. "No, why?" 

 "One of the computers in the rec room won't start up," Squall mumbled.
 "That's probably what Magnus means." 

 "Well," Armadillomon sighed. "What's the deal, Cloud?" 

 Cloud turned to the group. "Fixing a computer is a stressful thing, guys. He
 just gave the objective away because the actual mission is going to be TOO
 DAMN TOUGH!! Do any of you know what version Windows that computer used?!" 

 "Can't say we do." Heero moaned. 

 ".... 2000!!!!!!!!!" Cloud screamed. 


 <insert dramatic music> 


 Cody shook his head. "Y..you're kidding!!" 

 Squall stumbled back. "We're doomed!!" 

 Heero grabbed Cody and Squall, bashing their heads together. "Get a hold of
 it, guys. We're going to fix that computer if it takes us all damn night. We
 need weapons, badly." 










 Tai watched from his bunk's computer terminal as the DeathHarvest manuvered
 its way out of the hangar into open space. It banked right and rocketed in
 an arc, attempting to turn around the massive capital ship. Tai quickly
 typed a message into the window. 

 "Anything yet...?" Duo read. "Nothing yet." He typed back. He glanced to his
 sides outside the domed cockpit of the DeathHarvest as it cruised at a
 moderate speed alongside the Argetlahm. As he approached the front of the
 capital ship, he noticed the anti-dimensional barrier was stretching further
 and further away from the ship's surface. A small protrusion caught his eye.
 "Hey, guys," Duo typed. "There's a small extension sticking out of the
 anti-dimensional barrier. I'm going to check it out." He slammed his hand
 forward, joystick in hand. The Gundam launched itself forward accordingly.
 Duo squinted as he examined the very end of the barrier spire. 

 Duo grinned. "Gotcha." He pushed foward again and banked into the hollow
 barrier ahead of him. At the end a small pedestal floated in space, a large
 flagpole resting across it. A piece of velvet laid motionless at the end of
 the pole. 

 As Duo made his way closer, his engine cut out. 

 "Damn it!" Duo scowled. "I knew I should've fixed that before I came out
 here." 

 Everybody in the bunk face faulted. 

 "Guys," Duo typed. "I've ran into a little problem here.. I can't control
 the DeathHarvest from where I am. I need you to go down to my bunk and get
 my manual control module. It looks like a RC racer controller. Hurry up!" 

 The group leaped from where they sat and hurled themselves out of Tai's bunk
 and down the hall in a frenzied mob, nearly knocking over Raul who was
 walking by. 











 "That would be cheating, wouldn't it?" Ultimanium snickered. 

 "Hello?" Gatomon snarled. "Isn't that clue the least bit openended? We
 wouldn't mind a hint, at least." 

 Ultimanium rolled his eyes. "Well, hello, who would even want your diary?
 Think about it." 

 Kari folded her arms. "Well, who would want it, other than..." 



 All the girls stared at each other. "Veemon!" 

 Ultimanium opened a security monitor on his screen. "Why, yes. It's just
 there underneath his bunk. Getting into his bunk might be a bit troublesome,
 though." 

 Kid collapsed down onto the platform step. "Bugger! There's no way we can
 get into the guys' bunks, either." 

 Kari slapped the side of her head. "Duh, air vents!" 

 "We're all, like, too small for them though." Berri moaned. 

 Everybody glared at Gatomon. 

 "Fine, fine," Gatomon yelped. "Give me a minute and I'll head down there." 













 "Who's the greatest hacker of all time?" Izzy sung. "Who thinks up these
 half-assed rhymes?" 

 "Why, you do." Davis retorted, tossing a floppy disk to Izzy. Izzy caught it
 and slipped it into his laptop, now linked to the J3. 
 "But we do too." Goku continued, linking a black cord from the back of the
 laptop into the J3. 

 Conker tapped a button on the J3. "When you need an all-rounded nerd,
 Where's your request gonna be transferred?" 

 "To.. Izzy!!" Veemon wailed. 


 "I've got the encryption up," Izzy mumbled. "Breaker locked and loaded." He
 went into a typing fit, his fingers dancing across the keyboard as the
 binary coding ahead of him edited itself to his whim. As Izzy continued
 working, he stayed ahead of the security lockdown by a step and a half. 

 "Security breach detected. Lockdown in 30 seconds." The J3 hummed. 

 Izzy grinned. "A bit slow, even for Ultimanium." He tapped a last button on
 the keypad and the J3 hummed to life. "Now. Start up the J3." 

 Conker punched the button on the surface of the J3. "Gotcha." The
 all-too-familiar green aura shot from the J3 and erupted around the group. 


 When the flash cleared, the group opened their eyes to find themselves on a
 beach... a very familiar one. 

 "New Guldove..." Davis sighed. "This place is a wreck!" 



 Everybody looked on toward what used to be New Guldove. The city now
 appeared very much as Magnopolis did, pieces of wrecked buildings lying
 everywhere. On the far half of the city, the infrastructure of the city was
 completely demolished, and heavy mining machinery was being set up. 

 "If I know anything about Ulty, he would've hid the flag somewhere difficult
 to reach..." Conker squinted at the far off mining camp. 

 "I think we've got some fighting to do." Veemon breathed. 













 TK held a lit match in front of him, lighting up the metallic walls around
 him. "Which way, guys?" 

 "I don't know, up?" Vegeta scowled, crawling through the vents behind TK.
 "Dumbass!" 

 "Shut the hell up already!!" Karsh yelled, from behind Vegeta. Vegeta kicked
 Karsh in the face. 

 "I don't know, TK," Patamon sighed, crawling a short distance ahead of TK.
 "We haven't gained altitude for the past half hour. Maybe we should just get
 out of here before we get lost." 

 "Take a left here." TK pointed. Everybody rounded the corner accordingly. As
 the group winded along the tunnel, it began arcing up. "Well, I think we're
 getting somewhere, anyways. Patamon, you find another intersection yet...
 Patamon?" 

 Karsh reached forward to pull himself onward and dipped into a hole in the
 ground. "Wha? The shaft goes down here." 

 "Patamon!!" TK yelled. "Frick, he probably dropped into the lower vents.
 Back up, everybody, I'm going down there." 

 "I'm stuck." Karsh sighed. 

 "Allow me." Vegeta groaned, kicking Karsh in the face once more. "Damn it,
 windbag isn't going back! He is stuck!" 

 "C'mon!! I have to get to Patamon!!" TK bellowed. 









 Gatomon pulled herself along the vents. "I'm in!" 

 "Good!" Kari shouted, from the nearby vent opening. "We'll let you handle
 this one." 

 Gatomon grimaced. Kari slid the grate back onto the air vent opening, and
 Gatomon continued on. "Well, I shouldn't have any trouble, as long as no
 surprises get the drop on me." 

 Patamon plunged out of the open vent above Gatomon with a deafening wail,
 flattening her. Gatomon just sat there, face twitching. "....Patamon..." 

 "Uh... hi! Could you help me back up?" 

 Gatomon took Patamon and threw him as hard as she could back up the shaft,
 again following with a terrified yelp that dissiapated as Patamon
 disappeared into the darkness. Gatomon continued along the vent tunnel,
 peeking into rooms through their vent openings. Eventually she found the
 miscellaneous bunks. Struggling, she kicked off the vent cover, it hitting
 the ground with a loud clang. She hopped out, climbed out onto the desk and
 headed for Veemon's bunk. 

 And was stopped midstride by Agumon. "Gatomon? Could you explain what you're
 doing in here?" 

 Gatomon froze, sweatdropping. "...eh... aren't you guys getting your flag?
 Did you get it already?" 

 "Of course not," Agumon growled. "Duo's out in space getting it. Now, could
 you tell me what you want here? I was having a perfectly good nap until you
 showed up!" 

 "Well, I was getting something from..." She stopped midesentence. Heh, she
 thought. There's an idea. She twirled her tail on her hand. "Weeelll... I
 was wondering if I could get a trinket of Veemon's. I haven't been able to
 talk to him lately, though. It would mean a lot to me if you could help me
 find something of his." 

 Agumon grinned. ".. reeeeeeally. I don't think he'd mind.... I'll tell him
 after. What do you need?" 

 "Do you know if my diary's in here?" 

 Agumon reached underneath Veemon's bunk and pulled out a small white book
 with a gold lock. "You mean this?" 

 Gatomon swiped the book out of Agumon's hands. She could see a slip of
 fabric sticking out from between the pages. "Exactly. Thank you and give my
 condolences to whatever idiot you share traits with." She quickly bounded up
 from the desk back into the vent, reapplying the cover behind her. 


 Agumon sat motionless for a minute. ".. hmm... hey! That's right! I share
 some traits with Tai! Like... ..like.. um... like.. ... I'm insulted." 













 Davis, Exveemon, Goku, Conker and Izzy all tore straight down the city
 street in a windsprint, several dozen androids trailing them. "Figures Ulty
 had to give us the physical challenge, huh?" Conker choked out inbetween
 breaths. 

 Exveemon carried several dozen different flags on his back. "Hey, how are
 supposed to know exactly which flag is Ultimanium's?" 

 "Beats me!" Goku shouted. "Just get 'em all!" He leaped into the air and
 tore a US flag off the side of a post office, and landed running. "How many
 do we have?" 

 "67!" Davis yelled. "How many more do you suppose are on this block?" 

 "Given the rate that we have been collecting flags so far, I would guess
 500!" Izzy yelped. "Intersection, coming up!!" Everybody banked to their
 right as two more crowds of androids from the other directions converged on
 the pursuit group, which flooded onto the street that Conker and the group
 were on. Everybody just kept on running, grabbing flags. 

 "This is never going to blow over." Goku huffed. 










 Cloud glared menacingly at the monitor, which showed the Windows startup
 screen. ".... whoever used this computer last is going to die a painful
 death." 

 Squall buried his head in his hands. "Why couldn't we have Izzy on our
 team?" 

 "Try hitting it," Heero mumbled. "It's always worked for me." 

 Cody reached forward and smacked the side of the computer tower. The
 computer blanked out and began to reboot. This time, it wouldn't even get to
 the Windows startup screen. 

 Armadillomon sweatdropped. "This is hopeless." 









 Tai ran back into his bunk, carrying a small black box. "Alright, guys! I
 think I have it!" Tai dropped the controller down onto the table. "It looks
 pretty simple. Which one of us is going to control the DeathHarvest?" 

 Rodent hopped forward and swiped the module up. "I'll do it!" 

 A message appeared on the terminal screen. "I'll give you instructions on
 how to operate the manual module. First you" 

 Tai scratched his head. "Funny, Duo's message ended halfway through.
 Rodent..." 

 Everybody turned to see Rodent in the corner of the room, flipping switches
 and twisting the joystick around. 


 Duo yelped as the DeathHarvest took a detour again into the side of the
 Argetlahm, followed with a sickening crunch. As the DeathHarvest began
 floating away from the Argetlahm, it was clear that while the DeathHarvest
 sustained little to no damage, though the hull of the Argetlahm... wasn't
 too visually appealing. 

 Duo sweatdropped. "Ulty's going to kill us." 

 "Gimme that!!" Serge yelled as he yanked the controller out of Rodent's
 hands. "Okay, let's see here.. the Gundam would operate just as any other
 space vehicle would, which would operate just as any plane would... I have a
 lot of experience with flight sims, I can handle it." Serge rocked the
 joystick forward, sending the DeathHarvest spiraling forward rather than
 diving as Serge would have thought. 

 "DAMNIT, GUYS!!!" Duo screamed, holding onto the sensor arrays in front of
 him for dear life. "Let someone else handle it, and actually let me give you
 instructions!!" 

 Tai swiped the controller away again, and jerked the joystick to the side.
 The DeathHarvest shot itself into a sidestep, cruising into the barrier
 extension. Duo quickly adjusted the limb controls. The DeathHarvest reached
 out and latched itself onto the pedestal, keeping itself from flinging
 itself out into one-dimensional space. Staggering, the DeathHarvest reached
 up and snatched the flag off the pedestal. "Alright, guys," Duo whispered.
 "Mission accomplished. Now guide me carefully..." 

 Duo screamed again the DeathHarvest flung itself back toward the Argetlahm. 











 TK braced himself as he climbed up the long vertical shaft. "Any... time
 now... these vents can... end..." 

 "Hurry the hell up!!" Vegeta screamed. "Even Kakarot could get up these
 vents faster!!" 

 "That's because he can hover." Karsh muttered. "You could hover a bit faster
 yourself." 

 "Shut up, both of you." Tentomon buzzed. He hovered up a ways below Karsh,
 though he was slowly gaining ground on the group. "We have to be almost
 there." 

 "Found it." TK huffed, as he pulled himself up to the side. He crawled a
 short distance along a level vent, and kicked off the cover at the end.
 Everybody squeezed themselves out of the vent to find themselves in a
 massive wind cylinder, rising nearly several stories into the sky. The only
 thing that kept people from falling into a massive churning fan below was a
 single catwalk. 

 TK covered his eyes as he stared up the tube. "I think I see something.
 There's a piece of fabric blowing in the air conditioning." 

 "That has to be it," Tentomon hummed. "Vegeta, can you go get it?" 

 "Gladly." Vegeta said. He rocketed up into the white space above the wind
 cylinder and reached for the drinking-straw bound flag. He missed. "Curses!"
 he scowled. "Come back here!!" He swung. He groped. He grasped. Still, well,
 you know how hard it is to catch paper or fabric blowing away from you in
 the wind. 

 20 minutes later 

 Vegeta dropped down onto the catwalk holding the flag, catching his breath.
 "Here... is... the... flag..." 



















 Ultimanium glanced down at his watch. It was now 5:58. Time would be up any
 minute now, though he knew when a group would show up. "3...2....1...." 

 The doors of the war room flew open as each group charged down the aisle,
 ready to pounce on Ultimanium waved their newly acquired flags. Well,
 everybody but Cody's group. Bitter and defeated, Cody and his cronies took
 their seats. 

 "Calm down, everybody," Ultimanium said, shoving away the crowd. "Calm down.
 With all due respect, I didn't expect everyone to get their flags all at
 once. I'll talk to Raul about getting discounts for all of you... and maybe
 some freebies. Cody? What happened to your group?" 

 All of Cody's group looked up. "We hate computers." They all said in unison.


 Ultimanium lifted an eyebrow. "..computer? Who said anything about
 computers?" 

 Squall held up the note and pointed at it. "Right here! Fix the machine, you
 said!" 

 Ultimanium nodded. "Yeah, that's what I meant! The coffee machine was broken
 in the mess hall, and... and... why are you all staring at me like that?" 







 Cody's face turned blue with anger.
 "......URRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" 

 Ultimanium turned back to the crowd. "For the rest of you, the fruits of
 your efforts will soon be reveal... um... Davis... what's with all the
 flags?" 

 Flags were lined up all around the walls of the war room. Ultimanium's was
 sitting by the door. "Next time," Veemon snarled. "When you tell us to get
 you something, could you actually tell us what it looks like?" 

 Ultimanium scratched his head. "Oh... sorry. Anyways, guys, I'm going to
 talk to Raul right now about arming you guys up. Spend the rest of your day.
 By tonight, I'll have all your arms made up by Lord Raul. Until then, I'll
 see you." Ultimanium phased out of the war room, and everyone left to
 conduct the rest of their daily business. 




















 So, what new weapons and benefits await the blessing of Lord Raul? There's
 some pretty asskicking stuff going to be handed around to our heroes.. but
 what exactly awaits them? Find out on the next Argetlahm Adventures!! 


 END OF CHAPTER 14 










 Argetlahm Bunks 
 Day 18, 2:30 AM 







 Raul - (Voiceover) Last time on the Argetlahm Adventures... our heroes
 trekked around the Argetlahm in search of flags to cash in at my bazaar,
 everybody kind of hoping for new weapons of some sort. Glad to say, many
 groups found theirs, so I see a lot of arms manufacturing in the future! And
 when arms are manufactured, yours truly makes a buck! 

 This chapter, Raul hands out the munitions... let's say some people are a
 bit TOO powerful, even for Ultimanium's tastes. However, it has to be
 realized that extreme power may just be needed to defeat Ultramagnus... his
 newest plan, invading the fourth dimension, has some schematics in it that
 may even be too much for Ultimanium himself! Can Ultimanium and his gang
 outfit the Argetlahm crew for the perils ahead? Read on, and find out! 





















 "Wakey wakey, everybody!!" Ultimanium yelled over the intercom. "Everybody
 get down to the mess hall now! Raul's got some presents for ya!" 

 Davis glared up. "About time!" 

 Conker looked wearily-eyed down on Davis. "If he was going to give us all
 rewards so late, we could have actually slept before we went down there." 

 All the male bunk members stumbled out of their bunks in a half-asleep
 stupor and drowsily stumbled over to the turbolift. "I sure as hell hope
 this is worth waking up for." Rodent slurred. "I need a damn better gun to
 use." 

 Veemon skipped ahead of everybody, hyperactive as he was. "Lessee.. what can
 I get... I know, I'll just ask for a huge battleaxe! That's it!" 

 "I don't really know if I could use a weapon," Goku sighed. "I'm way too
 accustomed to my bare hands..." 

 Vegeta folded his arms. "True warriors do not need weapons to do their
 fighting for them." 

 "With all the weapons being thrown around, I wouldn't mind one myself." Izzy
 commented. "I would like to try hand artillery some time." 



 The turbolift clicked to a halt, and everybody stepped out into the
 expansive mess hall. The turbolift across the room also slid to a stop and
 released its female passengers into the cafeteria. All the tables of the
 mess hall were stacked off to the side, save for 3 that were lined up in the
 center of the room. Behind it was an enormous rack of weaponry. Swords.
 Guns. Everything you could think of. Raul sat behind one of the tables with
 a cash register in front of him. 

 Kari drooped. "I thought we were getting freebies." 

 Raul nodded. "Whoever doesn't have weapons. If they want more, they'll have
 to pay for it. With a sizeable discount, of course. Everybody line up and
 I'll start issuing weapons. Chrono Cross personnel first." 

 Everybody else groaned as Serge, Kid and Karsh shoved their way to the front
 of the line. "Whatcha got?" Kid snapped. "Can ya find something to replace a
 Spectral Dagger?" Kid slid the gleaming prism knife across the table to
 Raul. Raul stared down on the table for a second before looking back up at
 her. 

 "I think you're pretty set for weapons." Raul said. "Just a second." He put
 his fingers to his mouth and whistled. Another rack slid out partially in
 front of the weapons one, lined with various sets of armor. "I trust you're
 a dexterous fighter," Raul laughed, eyeing a suit of heavy, dark blue armor
 at the far end. "Maybe you want something light?" 

 Kid shook her head. "Nothin' here's light. I'm not an armor person." 

 Raul took the helmet off the blue armor and tossed it to Kid. "Try this." 

 Kid prepared to brace herself to catch the heavy blue helmet, but caught it
 with relative ease. "Hey, this is light!" 

 "Mythril," Raul spoke. "Lightest armor a person can get. Moderate defense,
 though. It'll help more than that skirt will. Serge, toss me the Tetra
 Weapon." Raul put a hand up and caught the handle of the dual swallow. He
 took another Mastermune off the rack and charged it with a black and white
 light, both forming on opposite ends. With a blast of energy, Raul soldered
 the handle to the two of the Tetra Weapon. Now alongside the red, blue,
 yellow and green flaming blades, there were black and white ones. "Don't
 call it Tetra, call it Setra. Ah, yes, Karsh.." Raul struggled to lift a
 suit of purple-tinted armor off the rack, dropping it onto the table.
 "Adamantium armor. Toughest stuff you can get. It goes good with axes." 

 Serge, Kid and Karsh all carried away their new wares, Karsh struggling
 under the weight of the thick adamantium. 

 "Conker? Berri? Rodent?" Raul announced. "Can you all come up here?" 

 All three stood up to the table. "Whatcha got for us, Raul?" Conker asked. 

 Raul dipped beneath the table for a second, and rose again. He placed three
 small, pitch white balls on the table. 

 "We don't use bebe guns." Berri scowled. 

 Raul grinned. "I wouldn't take these lightly. Anti-matter shells. Before you
 shoot it, it looks like a white pea. Upon impact, the explosion radiates
 to... I would say around the size of Jupiter. One each. I'll keep them for
 now, though... I don't imagine dropping one of these would be too pretty for
 the Argetlahm." 

 All three walked away. "He's gotta be kidding." Rodent groaned. "No bullet's
 that powerful." 

 Conker frowned. "I don't know, I've seen those Raul and Ulty use some pretty
 weird techniques." 


 "Digidestined." Raul barked. Davis, Tai, Cody, Kari, Izzy and TK all rushed
 up to the table. 

 "Takeru," Raul spoke. "You aren't getting your weapon right now, I'll show
 it to you after. Trust me, it's something special." TK stumbled away,
 growling. 

 "This had better be worth it." TK moaned. 

 Raul folded his arms. "Alright. Davis, Tai, since you already have weapons I
 can't give you freebies. You can have a 65% discount, though." 

 Tai held out a plastic slip. "Do you take credit?" 

 Cody sweatdropped. "...Tai, where did you get that?" 

 "Berri's bunk, where else?" Tai said, nervously. "It was the only drawer
 that was open.. you can't blame me..." (A/N - Chapter 4) 

 Raul nodded. "Yeah," He passed a card scanner up to Tai. "Don't bother with
 the PIN, I can always just hack it.... okay, what are you getting?" 

 Tai threw his arm on Davis' shoulder. "Another Ragnarok for my friend here."


 Davis twitched. "ANOTHER one?" 

 Raul slid another long dark greatsword across the table. "Going the
 double-sword route? Don't feel too worried, Dave, some of the greatest
 asskickers of medieval times were double-sword wielders." 

 Davis struggled to stay standing with Ragnaroks in each hand. "...it's not
 that.... it's... heavy!" 

 Raul turned back to Tai. "Anything for you?" 

 "Nah, I'll be alright," Tai shook his head. "We could use some of that
 Mythril Armor though." 

 "Coming right up." Mythril armor crashed to the ground in front of Tai and
 Davis. Both digidestined eyed the armor ravenously before scooping it up to
 try it on. 

 Cody glanced down at the floor. "I don't think there's much here for me." 

 "You're only saying that because you can't afford it," Raul laughed. "If I
 give you the same discounts would it change your opinion any?" 

 Cody's eyes brightened. "Do you have anything that would suit me?" 

 "Oh, yeah, you're a Kendo initiate, I forgot. Here, I have just the thing
 for you." Raul reached over and detatched an obscenely long samurai sword
 from the rack and placed it onto the table. "A traditional Japanese sword
 would do the trick. They call it Murasame." 

 Cody glared down on the 5 foot long samurai blade with glossy eyes. Even
 throughout his days in Kendo class, no one was stupid enough to lend him a
 real sword to practice with. Glowing with enthusiasm, Cody swiped the blade
 up with surprising grace and joined his friends. 


 Izzy stepped up. "You have anything for me? Any good guns?" 

 Raul nodded. "Ah, yes. Izzy. Artillery, you said?" He stood and removed a
 clamp-like apparatus from the top of the weapon shelf and placed it down on
 the table. It had extremely complicated laser sighting equipment on the
 side, dwarfed by the 180mm cannon that lied immediately in front of it. 

 "Gods!" Izzy yelped. "What is that?" 

 Raul rapped down hard on the device. "They call these things Gunarms... hand
 mounted heavy weapons. I saved the best model energy Gunarm I had for you.
 Izzy, I present you the Missing Score." 

 Izzy glanced questioningly at the Gunarm for a second. He scooped up the
 heavy blaster and clamped it onto his arm, his hand disappearing into the
 end of the end of the cannon. "Hey, this is light!" 

 Raul shrugged. "It's only an energy weapon. Next?" 

 Veemon bounded forward, knocking Izzy out of the way. "Hiya, Raul! Got any
 weapons I can use?!" 

 "Not really," Raul sighed. "Ulty told me not to give weapons to you. He's
 got a surprise for you though. Just step outside." 




 Veemon skipped away from the booth, and stopped a short distance outside the
 mess hall door. "Hey, Ulty? You here?" 

 Ultimanium dropped from the top of the open door and drove another needle
 into Veemon. 

 "OOOOWWW!!! OOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!" Veemon wailed. "STOP IT, YOU IDIOT!!" 

 Ultimanium pocketed the needle, grinning. "Don't worry, Veemon. That's the
 last needle I'm giving you. I assure you, you are the most powerful Digimon
 alive right now, do you know that?" 

 Veemon stared at Ultimanium. "...um, no. Wait a minute, that last shot you
 gave me, that's what made me DNA digivolve, right?" 

 "No, that was the first one," Ultimanium snickered. "The second one and this
 one have yet to react with each other. Let's just say your Rookie form is
 going to be feeling Mega by tonight." 

 "What do you mean by that?" 

 "Give it time," Ultimanium laughed. Before Veemon could speak again,
 Ultimanium had already phased to the bridge. 

 "....ah, forget it." Veemon huffed. 





 Raul dropped a glowing white orb down onto the table. "C'mon, guys. Revel in
 your true power." 

 "What do you mean by that?" Agumon blurted. 

 Raul stood, the orb floating up to his chest. 






 "Digicores for all!!" Raul yelled, as the orb let loose a blast of rainbow
 light that sheeted the room. 









 Agumon.... warp digivolve to... 
 WARGREYMON!! 

 Patamon... warp digivolve to... 
 SERAPHIMON!! 

 Gatomon... warp digivolve to... 
 MAGNADRAMON!! 

 Tentomon... warp digivolve to... 
 HERCULESKABUTERIMON!! 








 "This ain't normal, guys!" Seraphimon yelled as the white aura settled to
 the ground beneath him. 

 "I can't say I've felt power like this in ages!" HerculesKabuterimon gaped.
 "Still... I can't say the mess hall will retain its structure much longer if
 we stay like this..." 

 "It is a bit cramped in here..." Magnadramon said, in a powerfully deep
 voice. "Could we at least go back to normal for the time being?" 

 "You're telling me!" Wargreymon groaned, crushed against the wall by
 Magnadramon. 

 Raul rubbed his chin. "Hmm... good point." 

 HerculesKabuterimon was bending over just so his head wouldn't punch through
 the celing, Seraphimon was having trouble moving, the dragon Magnadramon
 took up nearly a quarter of the mess hall. Wargreymon was feeling it, of
 course. All four digimon returned to their Rookie levels, still woozy from
 the massive power surges they received at Mega level. "...trippy..." Patamon
 slurred, before collapsing. 

 Raul nodded. "Just to even things out a bit." 

 Agumon glanced back at his three fellow digimon, asleep from exhaustion.
 "What do you mean, 'to even things out'?" 

 "If you had any idea what power Veemon contains within him right now, you'd
 see why." 

 Everybody stood off in a corner, staring with wide eyes at the four digimon.



 "Hey, any idea what we'll get?" Duo shouted. 

 "I'm heading down to the hangar right away," Raul responded. "I'd be more
 than happy to armor up the Gundams further, and maybe bless some of your
 weapons, if you're nice enough." 

 Duo grinned. "Sweeeet..." 


 "That is all," Raul spoke. "You have all been granted your enhancements,
 save for Takeru. I will be personally seeing to his reward. I trust you all
 want to get back to sleep. Good night, and I'll see you all at breakfast." 

 Everybody except for TK turned and started toward the turbolift. As TK
 turned to speak to Lord Raul, he spotted him and Magnus in a conversation. 


 "Hey, Raul. You got weapons for me?" 

 Raul grinned. "Of course." He took a pair of metallic-looking red gloves
 from under the table. Circuitry laced the surfaces of the gloves, pulsing
 with an eerie green glow. "We know you're a melee fighter. The most powerful
 fist weapon in existance - the Ehergiz." 

 As Magnus slid on the gloves, the glow expanded and a ring of green flame
 erupted around Magnus' knuckles. "Bitchin... That's raw Ki energy right
 there! How did you do that?" 

 "My secret." 

 Magnus shifted off to the bridge. Raul turned to his side to find TK
 standing there. "Oh, yes, Takeru. Would you like your weapon now?" 

 TK shrugged. "Is there a reason why I wouldn't?" 

 "I was wondering if you would be able to handle a sword with this heavy an
 enchantment..." He reached behind him and slowly drew his sword from a
 sheath on his back, it making a sharp ring as it uncovered itself. Raul
 gently lowered the sword down unto the table. "Takeru. I would like you to
 have this." 

 TK's eyes grew wide. "...But that's your sword!" 

 Raul shrugged. "Nah, I'm getting pretty tired of it. I've been wielding it
 for the past several millenia." 

 "But you..." TK froze. "...millenia?" 

 "The point is, I think my sword, the Sword of Truth, needs to find a new
 owner. I believe you have the mental and physical skills necessary to wield
 the Sword of Truth properly. Come with me, Takeru. I shall take you into the
 training gym. I need to tell you some basic guidelines using the Sword of
 Truth. Follow me." Raul walked around his table and headed for the
 turbolift. 

 TK glanced down on the gleaming longsword placed on the table ahead of him.
 It was a fair-sized sword, about an inch and a half across, and 3 feet long,
 with the blade narrowing at the top to a fine point. The handle was wrapped
 in standard smithing iron, but the word TRUTH was emblazoned on it in a
 gold-type substance. The hilt curved upwards at both ends in a cresent,
 various runic letters inscribed on it. TK reluctantly reached forward and
 picked up the blade. Immediately he could feel some force of light course
 through him momentarily, before subsiding. He lifted the surprisingly light
 sword onto this shoulder and left after Lord Raul. 









 "You wield the Sword of Truth," Raul spoke, command in his voice. "I hand
 down the title of Seeker to you." 

 Raul paced by TK, sitting on a bench in the gym. "The Sword of Truth hones
 an enchantment not like other swords. The Sword of Truth is a weapon of
 retribution. The system by which it deals damage is unique from other unique
 weapons. Let's keep it simple - the sword remains neutral, a sword just like
 any other, under normal circumstances. By placing you under the title of
 Seeker, I hand the power to affect the sword's action down to you. The sword
 will only exert its true power on those who you deem truly evil. As well, an
 amount of rage needs to be directed towards the target for the sword to do
 its maximum effect. On the opposite end of the scale, it is virtually
 harmless to those you align with the good guys, or friends. Against neutral
 forces, or enemies you have little knowledge of, the sword will perform
 normally, just as the Ragnarok." 

 TK scratched his arm. "The neutral part didn't hit me too hard." 

 "Look at me, Takeru," Raul said. "You don't know me. You don't really know
 my true meaning on the Argetlahm, do you? I could be plotting to backstab
 Ultimanium for all you know. Still, I have helped on multiple occasions,
 which clouds your vision." 

 "Well, now that you mention it, you do act pretty funny." 

 Raul spread his arms. "Do your worst, Takeru." 

 TK blinked. "...huh? You mean, like slash you?" 

 "Attack with the Sword of Truth, Takeru," Raul commanded. "If you cannot
 understand neutral through words, than experimentation is in order." 

 TK bit his lip. Hesitantly, he reached back behind him and picked up the
 Sword of Truth. He examined the blade for a short second, before jogging up
 to Raul with the Sword in hand, stopping several feet away from Lord Raul.
 Closing his eyes, he spun and struck Raul as hard as he could with the
 Sword, expecting to see the enchantment come into effect. Nothing happened. 

 "Exactly," Raul said, nodding. "That is the neutral effect of the sword."
 The sharp edge of the Sword had impacted harmlessly on Raul's thick armor.
 While his armor was generally tough, even a sword travelling at the velocity
 TK threw it would make a sizeable dent in it. No sign of damage was visible.
 "I see," Raul commented. "You trust me somewhat, yet not enough to merit on
 the Sword. That is all I will tell you about the Sword. As Seeker, it is
 imperative that you learn the remaining secrets of the Sword on your own." 

 TK glanced across the room to see Vegeta training by himself. "Just a
 second." Cautiously, TK snuck up slowly behind Vegeta, him throwing punches
 and kicks into the air. "Hey, Vegeta! Heads up!!" 

 Vegeta turned to face TK as he brought the bright blade down on Vegeta's
 head. As the Sword beckoned down unto Vegeta's skull, a small burst of light
 was released, and the Sword froze in the air where TK held it, a good
 several inches away from Vegeta. As much as TK attempted to push the blade
 forward, it stayed where it was. 

 "Stupid child!!" Vegeta screamed. "What are you trying to do, get me
 killed?! Get the hell out of here before I get angry!!" 

 "Yaaah! Geesh!" TK scowled, as he turned and left the room, heading to the
 turbolift to take a nap before breakfast. 




 "Sword, guide Takeru Takaishi." Raul mumbled. 



















 Ultramagnus stood, staring out the small office window. The construction of
 the 3.5 Digital World headquarters on the continent of Server was almost
 complete, probably taking a couple of hours or more as his contractors
 finalized things up and polished his new sanctum to perfection, but until
 then, Ultramagnus had to settle with his small-business adobe. A
 formally-dressed android plodded slowly up to Ultramagnus and whispered
 something into his ear. 

 "Change of plans," Ultramagnus muttered. "What do you mean, 'change of
 plans'? I know perfectly what I am doing!" 

 "Sir," The android squeaked. "You have to understand that a full-out attack
 on the fourth dimension as we are will be futile. Our android forces top off
 at 20 million, and while that is a generally large military force, the
 combined arms of the world armed forces could easily crush that if they
 wanted to. We'd be able to deal an enormous amount of damage, but they would
 remain operative while we are left completely defenseless to the Argetlahm
 crew." 

 Ultramagnus threw his fists together with an echoing crack. "So, big deal!
 I'll deal with what's remaining if I have to." 

 The android shook his head. "You know that Ultimanium and his forces will
 come and fight you alone. And, with their recent enhancements, it would be
 probable to say you don't have a chance." 

 Ultramagnus threw a hand to his side and blew off the androids head with a
 Ki blast. "I didn't want to hear that." 

 Another android appeared in the doorway. "What he means to say is that
 getting into the fourth dimension from the 3.5 Digital World using a
 Digiport may not be the most forward advance on the 4D. R&D seems to want to
 talk to you. They say they've found an archeological find outside of Fort
 Draconia." 

 Ultramagnus sat down at his card table and took a walkie-talkie, painted a
 tan color, from among the different handsets on his table. "What did you
 guys get?" 

 "I don't know," A voice crackled out. "Some kind of funny-looking weird blue
 crystal. My men say that they found it underneath a caved-in waterfall." 




 Ultramagnus fell out of his seat, but quickly leaped back in. "A blue
 crystal? Underneath a waterfall? Tell me what this looks like, in detail." 

 "It's a funny-looking argon casing. It's got these weird, twisted spires
 coming out of it. The spires look like they're trying to protect some
 spherical crystal inside of the casing. The sphere has pentagon-shaped sides
 on it all over the place. Did I tell you it glows and hums?" 

 Ultramagnus' eyes grew wide. A grin slowly crept up his face. "I want you to
 get that on the plane and get it to Digiworld HQ as fast as possible." 

 "Yes, sir. Over and out." The voice crackled and stopped abruptly. 




 "What is this treasure they speak of, master?" The android cooed. "You sound
 like you know it well." 

 Ultramagnus reached behind him and opened a shelf, taking a jewellry case
 out of it. "Why, my friend, what they have in their posession is the
 greatest dimensionsplitting device in recorded history. Screw the J2, J3,
 J2000, even. I have the real thing coming my way!" He opened the case,
 basking the room in a dull orange glow. Ultramagnus dumped a pair of small
 orange balls with stars emblazoned on their surface onto the card table.
 "And I think I have a little idea how I can activate it. Once we have this
 'blue orb' under my control, my army will finally be able to raid the fourth
 dimension with now effort at all, and the Argetlahm band be able to do
 nothing about it! Ultimanium and his little posse are doomed!!" 

 "Sir, do you really know what this orb is?" 



































 Ultramagnus glared up at the messenger android with a menacing grin on his
 face. 

































 "Why, it's the Chrono Cross, of course." 











 If we know anything, it's that the Chrono Cross can deal some serious damage
 to space-time itself. Will the Argetlahm crew be able to stop Ultramagnus in
 time before he activates the Chrono Cross? Will Takeru face his fears and
 stand up to the challenge of Seeker? These answers and more on the next
 Argetlahm Adventures!! 


 END OF CHAPTER 15 












 Argetlahm War Room 
 Day 18, 12:00 PM 










 "Ultramagnus has gone too far." 

 Davis waved frantically. "Whoa, wait, hold on. He couldn't do that without
 the J2, couldn't he?" 

 Raul nodded. "Very much so. Davis, get everybody in here, fast as possible.
 There's no time to lose." 




 Davis turned and split from the war room, towards the turbolift that would
 take him to the bridge. He had to tell his friends and bunkmates as soon as
 possible. Still, he winced to himself. What everybody was about to hear,
 they were going to like not. Davis threw a fist down on the transmit button
 next to a large microphone extending from the bridge control panel.
 "Everybody! Up and at 'em! We have a problem... a BIG problem! Hurry up, we
 don't have much time." He quickly lifted his fist off the large switch and
 bolted back to the war room. In the five minutes he took to get there, he
 found everybody standing in the aisles, strangely awake and actionable, for
 this time at night, anyways. 

 Conker rubbed his eyes. "What's the deal, Dave? What's Ulty and his guys up
 to now?" 

 "Couldn't say," Goku yawned. "Seems like all kinds of crazy crap happens
 around here when everybody's asleep." 

 "Everybody," Magnus commanded. "Get in your seats. A major tragedy has
 occured in the third dimension." 

 Everybody nodded accordingly and dashed to their designated chairs. 








 "It's been awaked." Ultimanium sighed. 

 Serge stood up. "What? What's been awakened?" 



 "The Chrono Cross." 

 Serge, Kid and Karsh's eyes grew wide, while everybody else stared on
 confusingly. "How the hell did Ultramagnus get control of the Chrono
 Cross?!" Serge yelled. "That was supposed to be sealed away!!" 

 "In the fifth dimension, yes," Raul explained. "However, its power still
 reigns on in the third dimension. Ultramagnus' workers found it recently
 near Fort Draconia." The hologram projector lit up, showing a world map. A
 light blinked near the northeast corner of the center continent. 

 "What's the big worry over?" Vegeta smirked. "It is just a sort of treasure,
 is it not?" 

 (A/N - I'm just gonna make up interesting stuff from hereonin... Chrono
 Cross people, don't jump on me.  ^_^' ) 

 Ultimanium shook his head. "The entire concept of dimensional travel? The
 entire concept of dimensional travel stemmed from the analysis of the Chrono
 Cross. The Chrono Cross is an ancient artifact, an extremely old
 dimensionsplitter. The magic energies infused within the Chrono Cross are
 said to work alongside with the religion of El Nido - an extremely
 complicated one. Six dragon gods rule over the El Nido isles, each one
 representing a different element. The Chrono Cross' origins are unknown. It
 is said that the Chrono Cross has the power to cross over dimensions,
 aligning the elements one over another - creating a song of union. I imagine
 all this babble has put you to sleep again, has it? Let's just get it
 straight..." 

 Izzy stood. "Technically, you mean the 'Chrono Cross' has the power to
 temporarily meld several dimensions together along one line." 

 Magnus nodded. "Correct. The dimensions will completely overlap... no need
 for a portal here. Ultramagnus can instantaneously transport his army into
 the heart of civilization and destroy the fourth dimension from the inside
 using the Chrono Cross. Asides from that, the utilization of the Chrono
 Cross may have adverse and destructive effects on the very dimensional
 structure of reality itself. That is why Serge, Kid and Karsh did not use
 the Chrono Cross in normal situations. The Chrono Cross was last used by
 Serge and his group to defeat the Time Devourer, a melding of the Six Dragon
 Gods from the El Nido archipalego. However, due to its possible extreme
 destructive effects, it is not used there any longer." 

 "Ha! But he doesn't know how to activate the Chrono Cross, does he, now?"
 Kid laughed. 

 Ultimanium drooped. "That brings us to the next part." 

 The hologram map lit up again, this time showing a large island mass, much
 larger than the Magnopolis continent. 

 TK stared at the map for a couple of seconds before coming to his senses.
 "Hey, that's the continent of Server! In the Digital World!" 




 A large blinking square appeared in the center of the island. Raul stepped
 up. "Ultramagnus, after his defeat at the hands of Wargreymon, Paildramon
 and MagnaAngemon, retreated to the third dimension Digital World.
 Apparently, Ultramagnus' R&D has discovered recently that the dimensional
 barriers between the Digiworlds have a different freqeuncy than the ones of
 the normal world. Technically, the Digiworld is half a dimension back from
 the one you shift there from." 

 "So what's with the blinking square?" Berri asked. 

 "Ultramagnus, out of sight until now, has constructed a HQ in the heart of
 Server. From there, he waits to activate the Chrono Cross and drive his
 forces into the fourth dimension from there." 

 Karsh rubbed his chin. "But how does he plan to activate the Chrono Cross?" 

 Ultimanium frowned. "There's several transports approaching Server from
 different directions. Check for yourself." The map began to zoom in a short
 distance away from the shore of Server, onto a small formation of hydrofoils
 crusing along the ocean at a moderate speed. The hologram removed the celing
 of the foils to reveal.... 


 "The Dragon Balls?!" Gohan yelped. 

 Vegeta shot up. "The Dragon Balls!! What does Ultramagnus want with them?!" 

 Goku threw his arms up. "Well, hello! If he can't get the Chrono Cross to
 work, then Shen Long will!" 

 "Exactly," Magnus groaned. "While Shen Long lacks the power to tear
 dimensional gates on his own, he may have what it takes to tap into the
 arcane energies of the Chrono Cross and put it into action. If you haven't
 noticed yet, we have a big ass problem on our hands, people. Everybody, head
 down to the rec room. We're going in." 

 Conker put his hand up. "...don't you mean the hangar?" 

 "No, the rec room." 






 ******** 





 (A/N - Remember the sticky note from Chapter 4? Huh?) 



 "We told you the Argetlahm remains in a fragment of fourth dimensional
 space," Ultimanium said. 

 "..so we can get into the 3.5 Digital World from here!" Tai continued. 

 "I don't imagine Ultramagnus would expect us to arrive without the J3," Raul
 commented. "Without the J3 at our side, we can't be tracked. We should have
 the element of surprise on this run. We will be attacking Ultramagnus' HQ
 head-on, so use your new equipment to the fullest. The Digi HQ project is
 easily Ultramagnus' most guarded asset right now, as the Dragon Balls are on
 their way there, so everybody should be on their highest guard, just in
 case." 

 Conker glared down at the ground. "If Ultramagnus is there, would that make
 this our final run?" 

 "I hope we can deal enough damage to him," Kari sighed. "Otherwise we'll be
 on the Argetlahm for ages." 

 "Bold talk, Kari," Vegeta scowled. "But how exactly do we access this
 'Digital World' from our location? All we're staring at is a bunch of
 computers." 

 Armadillomon waddled up. "The Digidestined have full access to the Digital
 World. They can access a portal to it using any computer." 





 Raul turned. "Alright, everyone, listen up. We're going to be opening a
 digiport shortly, and you'll all need to know where to go. There are three
 transports approaching the island, two with two Dragon Balls, one carrying
 one. Apparently, he already has two of them. You will all be divided into
 three groups, each intercepting a different hydrofoil. It only takes one
 group to derail a hydrofoil and get its cargo to screw up Ultramagnus'
 plans, but he will certainly notice and send reinforcements. Therefore, it
 is imperative that as many groups rob their hydrofoils as possible so we can
 get as many Dragon Balls away as possible. Understood?" 

 Everybody nodded. 

 "After we have dropped the Dragon Balls off at the Argetlahm, we will begin
 our assault on Ultramagnus' headquarters. Let's move out!" 

 TK, Davis and Tai were all clad in their mythril armor, Davis wielding the
 dual Ragnaroks, Tai and his Ultima Weapons, and TK with the Sword of Truth.
 TK whipped out his D3 like he did so many times before. "Digiport open!" 

 Everybody asides the Digidestined watched in awe as the window appeared on
 the screen and lit up, transforming everyone into pure energy and zapping
 them off to their mission. 


















 MISSION #5 - Cannonball Run 


 Hydrofoils containing the five remaining Dragon Balls will arrive at Server
 shores shortly. ULTIMANIUM'S GROUP, MAGNUS' GROUP and RAUL'S GROUP will
 assault the different shipments of cargo as it is moved inbetween the shore
 and Ultramagnus' HQ. Danger level is classified under Defcon 8. Lethal force
 is (duh) authorized. 

 Secondary objective - Rally at entrance to Technotropolis, center of Server
 continent. Operation to oust Ultramagnus will commence shortly after. 

 Good luck. 

















 ULTIMANIUM'S GROUP 

 Conker 
 Goku 
 Vegeta 
 Izzy 
 Tentomon 
 Veemon 
 Cody 
 Armadillomon 



 MAGNUS' GROUP 

 Serge 
 Kid 
 Cloud 
 Karsh 
 Rodent 
 Berri 
 Heero 
 Squall 



 RAUL'S GROUP 

 Davis 
 TK 
 Patamon 
 Gohan 
 Kari 
 Gatomon 
 Duo 
 Tai 
 Agumon 















 Gohan sat down in the bushes behind him. "This place is so weird.. I wasn't
 thinking a virtual reality when people started yelling 'Digital World!
 Digital World!'. I think I could get used to this place." 

 "TK?" Patamon chirped. "Doesn't anything around here look different?" 

 TK glanced out to the sea, a good 200 feet from where Raul's group was
 hiding. Well, most of it. 

 "I can't say this is much of a hiding spot." Duo sighed. 

 Everybody looked up. The DeathHarvest towered over the generally short trees
 near the shoreline of Server, exposing itself over the horizon. 

 "Cloaking device," Raul shouted. "Second dial on the left canopy." 

 Duo glanced around the cockpit, noticing the large clear dial on the celing
 of the cockpit. "Oh... I think I have it..." Duo swiped at the dial,
 spinning it to the left. With a startling crackle, the machinery from the
 DeathHarvest disappeared around him, leaving him and his chair in space.
 "....YAAAHHH!!" Duo screamed and held onto his chair for dear life. 

 Davis checked around him. "Hey, where'd Duo go?" He looked up to see a faint
 glimmer of Duo grasping his seat before it disintegrated into thin air. 

 "You'll be alright, Duo." Raul said. "You will be able to see everything
 from here on in, but Ultramagnus' forces or us won't be able to see you
 while you stay in this mode. Use it in emergencies. You might as well stay
 like that so we can at least have a surprise attack on the hydrofoils." 

 Gatomon sat at Izzy's laptop, leant to her for the situation. A radar
 displayed on the pineapple computer's screen. "Blinking dots, headed
 inbound." 

 Raul stood. "How far?" 

 "Lemme check," Gatomon leant forward and squinted at the faint pulsing of
 the foils. "I'd say 12 clicks." 










 "We up for some SSJ asskicking?!" Magnus yelled. 

 "BOOYA!!" Rodent wailed. 

 "Hell yeah!!" Cloud yelled. 

 Serge and the rest of Magnus' group sat on group of rocks a distance aways,
 by the shoreline. The Wing Zeromus sat guard behind the group. 

 "You picking up anything?" Kid shouted up. 

 "Two readings, transports, alright," Heero blurted out. Again he checked the
 sensor array on the Wing Zeromus' control panel. "Headed inbound. Everybody
 get ready, they should be arriving in about ten minutes at this rate." 

 Karsh lied across the ground. "What's the big deal? They're only
 hovercrafts. We can just pop them. Besides, how fast could a hovercraft be
 going?" 

 "220 kpm." Heero stated flatly. 







 "ETA nine minutes," Ultimanium grumbled. "Everybody get ready." 

 Veemon stood to his feet. "Do we have a plan here?" 

 "I'll tell you guys when to jump," Goku said. "I have the reflexes here." 

 Conker spit on his hands and rubbed them. "Jumping on to a passing
 hovercraft? Anyone have any similar experiences to share?" 

 "I don't know, have you jumped into moving traffic before?" Cody sighed. 

 Izzy frowned. "Those hovercrafts are moving far more quickly than I
 thought.." 

 "I'll go up ahead. Half of you follow me. There's no way Kakarot could get
 the entire group jumping on at once. We'll head five minutes up and I'll
 commandeer that boarding." 

 Ultimanium nodded. "Good idea. We'll see you in a bit, Vegeta." 

 Vegeta made a face at Ultimanium. "Of course it is." As he turned to leave,
 Izzy, Cody and Conker followed him. 

 Ultimanium turned to the group. "Me, Goku, and the Digimon will board first,
 followed by the rest." 










 ******** 







 Ultramagnus snickered to himself. "Yeah, nice try." 

 "Is something going on that we're not aware of?" Servant asked. 

 Ultramagnus rolled his eyes. "Oh, just another attempt on the behalf of
 Ultimanium to save the third dimension, we all know the drill. Don't tell me
 you can't see them on the long range scanners." 

 "Well, actually, we don't," Servant gulped. "There's no readings on the
 entire Server continent." 

 Ultramagnus grit his teeth. "All this damn technology and there's still
 nothing that can match up to raw psychic ability. I guess I didn't need your
 accursed 'technology' in the first place when all it took was my
 astronomical power level to tell things were wrong with this situation.
 Ultimanium, I know you're out there, right on the Server beach. Betcha
 didn't think I had these kind of abilities, huh?" Ultramagnus turned back to
 Servant. "Servant. Send out our shock and airdrop android units right away.
 Get them to set up checkpoints on the hydrofoil route. And tell the foils
 themselves not to slow down." 






 ******** 






 "ETA five minutes," Ultimanium shouted. "Everybody, get ready!" 


 Veemon... digivolve to.... 
 EXVEEMON!! 
 Exveemon... DNA digivolve to... 
 PAILDRAMON!!! 

 Tentomon... digivolve to... 
 KABUTERIMON!! 
 Kabuterimon... digivolve to... 
 MEGAKABUTERIMON!!! 


 "I see Megas are out of the question," Megakabuterimon sighed heavily. 

 "You know, you gotta have your desperate situations," Ultimanium mumbled.
 "Give it some time." 










 Magnus grit his teeth. "ETA three minutes... everybody get ready..." 

 Magnus' group positioned itself in the bushes, ready to have a hovercraft
 scream over their heads. And time passed. 








 Raul blinked. "ETA 30 seconds." 

 TK shot up. "Incoming!" 

 Everybody glared out to the open ocean, where several uproars of churning
 water shot from the ocean. Small specks, the foils, could be seen lifting
 over the horizon. They were headed straight for the beach. 

 "Those are a bit bigger than I thought they were," Tai muttered, his hands
 to his eyes. "We're going to be flattened by this thing before we get onto
 it." 

 Agumon... warp digivolve to... 
 WARGREYMON!!! 

 Kari frowned. "Is it me, or is that thing not slowing down?" 

 Two hovercrafts in the distance split off from their groups, turned a 45,
 and shot off to different parts of the Server coast. The other groups were
 going to have company. The hovercraft for Raul's group shot toward the coast
 and hit the sand of the beach, still speeding. The hovercraft plowed over a
 sandbed, shooting through the air and landing on the temperate ground closer
 to Raul's position. The foil cranked back up to maximum speed and rocketed
 by the group. 

 Everybody just sat there. 

 "...I take it we should go after that." Wargreymon sighed. 

 "Aaaahh!! No way!!" Davis wailed. "C'mon, we gotta do something!!" 

 "Ride on the DeathHarvest and Wargreymon, everybody," Raul commanded.
 "They're the only ones fast enough to catch up to the hydrofoil!" 














 "NYAAAAAA!!" Everybody screamed simultaneously as Magnus' group dove out of
 the trees onto the hovercraft. The group staggered and quickly brought back
 their bearings as the whiplash-speed of the hovercraft overtook them. The
 stifled cry of "intruders!" could be heard from the command center beneath
 them. 

 "Somebody go for the Dragon Balls," Kid shouted. "The rest of us are going
 to have some trouble up here!" 

 5 androids bounded up the stairs leading to the overhead celing of the
 hovercraft, all wielding energy blades. 

 "Ultramagnus' elite guard," Magnus gaped. "Watch out, these ones are a bit
 more powerful." He quickly tapped several buttons on his Scouter and scanned
 the area in front of him. "Power level of 50,000 each. We're going to have
 some trouble here." 

 Serge brought up the Setra Weapon to his guard. "As long as they aren't as
 tough as the one we fought, I'm fine." 

 "Serge, these are the one you fought." 

 Karsh frowned. "Uh oh." 

 A wave of autocannon fire strafed across the surface of the hovercraft,
 making the androids dodge away in confusion. One of them fell off the
 hovercraft and was left in the distance. The Wing Zeromus fell out of the
 sky, maintaining the same speed as the hovercraft. "Can't have fun without
 me!" Heero growled, and let loose another barrage of machine gun fire onto
 the hovercraft. 

 "Melee?" Squall and Cloud spoke in unison. "We'd be honored!" Both warriors
 lit up in a red flame. Squall lept up into the air, falling back a bit, and
 Cloud brought his thief sword back over his shoulder. Squall brought his
 gunblade behind him and swung it back around his other side in a tight arc,
 sending a wave of flame at the group of robots. Cloud brought his blade back
 up and slammed it down against the ground, sending several ripples across
 the ground to the androids. 

 "FATED CIRCLE!!" Squall boomed, victoriously. 
 "BLADE BEAM!!" Cloud followed. 

 The Fated Circle impacted with a violent explosion against the line of
 androids, sending them to the ground. The Blade Beam wove underneath them
 and sent off a shock, sending them all back up and landing on their faces.
 Two sprung up and charged at Magnus' battalion as Magnus himself lifted his
 hands. 

 "Neo Crusher!!" Magnus bellowed. A large beam of darkness shot down from the
 sky and surrounded the two androids remaining on the ground as they began to
 push themselves up. However, it soon began pushing the soldiers back down
 again for a short moment, until they were blasted down through the hydrofoil
 itself. Rodent glanced behind the hovercraft as two smoking android wrecks
 in the ground behind it. A loud hissing filled the air. 

 "We shot them through the hovercraft tube!" Berri squealed. "We're slowing
 down!" 

 "208 kpm! 203 kpm! The hovercraft isn't going to get any further, get rid of
 the androids so we can get the Dragon Balls!" Heero shouted. 

 Serge focused his Chi unto the Setra Weapon, until all six blades on it
 glowed white. He jumped into the air, Chi collecting on it as he went up,
 and hurled it at the androids as hard as he could. "Flying Arrow!!" The
 six-bladed weapon impacted against the surface of the craft, erupting in a
 multi-elemented explosion. Everybody shielded themselves as they felt the
 heat and cold that radiated from the blast. The Setra Weapon spun out of the
 mayhem and landed back in Serge's hands. When the chaos cleared, parts of
 one android still hung in the air, drifting toward the ground. The last
 android lunged out of the fray at Serge, his left arm missing. Serge dodged
 as the robot brought his energy blade down where he stood, burning a slit in
 the iron. 

 The Wing Zeromus shot to the side of the hovercraft, finished its charge
 period. "BUSTER SHOT!!" Heero yelled. The Buster Rifle Mk.II went off, and
 the resulting beam of light carved across the surface of the craft and sent
 the android through several dozen trees in the distance before breaking
 apart and crumpling to the ground. 

 Kid dashed up, Dragon Balls in each hand. "Two down, three to go, boys!
 Let's get out of this dump!" With that, she dove from the hovercraft, slowed
 down to 160 kpm, and rolled as she landed. Everybody followed suit as the
 hovercraft started to slide from its braking spree. The hovercraft tipped
 before tumbling over itself, slamming into a grove of trees and exploding,
 with shards of metal and rubber flying in all directions. 

 Magnus gazed at the burning wreckage. "Done like dinner." 











 Goku flipped onto a catwalk along the side of the speeding hovercraft, much
 to the surprise of two androids standing on both sides of him. He grinned.
 "Why, hello, guys." As the androids charged him, Goku fired off powered-up
 Ki blasts in both directions, punching through both robots. Ultimanium
 landed on top of the hovercraft, where 3 androids awaited him. 

 Ultimanium smirked. "Well, don't just stand there." 

 Megakabuterimon dove out of the sky, crushing the androids beneath him.
 "...ah... oops." 

 Armadillomon climbed up the guardrail and settled himself next to Goku. 

 Goku glanced down at him. "...aren't you supposed to be digivolved?" 

 "Not when Megakabuterimon takes up all of first class," Armadillomon barked.
 "I'm going for the Dragon Balls." 

 A loud clank interrupted them both, as Vegeta dashed around from the other
 end of the craft, followed by Conker and Cody. "What's going on here?"
 Vegeta asked. "Do we have the Dragon Balls yet?" 

 "Not yet," Goku said. "While Ulty and Megakabuterimon handle the androids,
 we're going for them..." Goku stopped for a second, looking around. 

 Conker leant on the armrail. "What?" 

 Goku looked around hesitantly. "Did you hear something?" 




 A muffled voice came from the interior of the hydrofoil. "Evasive
 manuvouers!!" 

 Cody stared onward. "What did he mean by..." Cody was interrupted as the
 hyrdofoil tilted to the side, sending everybody onto the guardrail. "What
 the...? The hydrofoil's turning! Hold on everybody!!" 

 Conker toppled over the guardrail. "Yaaah!!" Vegeta lashed out and latched
 onto his arm onto Conker's as he nearly hit the ground. 

 "We need you yet, squirrel-man," Vegeta grunted. "Get the hell back up
 here." 

 Ultimanium looked around. "We're turning," 

 Paildramon shot forward in the air, flying ahead of Ultimanium. "What's that
 up ahead? It's almost like we're coming to..." 

 Another hovercraft shot by in front of them, barely clearing Ultimanium's.
 The vehicle teetered again as it struggled to remain balanced. 

 "...an intersection!" 

 Cody glared back as Wargreymon and DeathHarvest roared through the
 intersection. "It's Raul's group! They're on the same track as us! If the
 path turns again..." As soon as he finished his sentence, the foil tilted
 again, throwing everybody on the catwalk against the exterior of the
 hovercraft. Ultimanium knelt down, gathering his balance. 

 Megakabuterimon shifted. "HORN BUSTE...aaaaahahhhhhh!!!" He began to lose
 his footing, and eventually tumbled over the edge of the hovercraft, as he
 dug a claw into the side of the hovercraft compartment to keep himself
 aboard. 




 Armadillomon dodged back as a sharp claw tore through the hallway wall,
 nearly impaling him. "Hey! Watch it!" He reached into his mouth and pulled
 out the pair of Dragon Balls. "Don't worry, my babies, you'll be safe with
 me." 

 An android rounded the corner, firing a blast of energy at Armadillomon as
 he rolled out of the way. "Yaaah!!" Armadillomon bailed out the tear caused
 by Megakabuterimon as another energy blast landed where he once stood with a
 small explosion. As he landed on the catwalk, he stumbled and spat out the
 Dragon Balls, both rolling down the catwalk toward the edge. 

 Vegeta glared back. "Curses!" He dove at top speed for the pair of orange
 marbles and scooped them up. As he turned around to scowl at Armadillomon,
 the foil began a powerslide back into another intersection, making Vegeta
 fall flat on his face and toss the Dragon Balls. Cody leapt up and caught
 them. 

 "They're gonna get company!" Conker shouted, as Wargreymon slammed down a
 claw into the surface of the hydrofoil to the side of them. Several people
 got off. 









 Paildramon shot forward to the next hovercraft as TK, Davis, Gohan and Tai
 boarded from Wargreymon. Immediately, they all leapt into action, carving up
 androids that waited for them on the surface with their swords, daggers and
 fists, respectively. 

 "Depserado Blaster!!" Paildramon yelled. Bolts of energy impacted around the
 surface of the hovercraft. The digidestined and Gohan all backed up as the
 shots rained upon the several defending androids, tearing them apart. The
 Wing Zeromus shot into view, dumping Raul, Patamon, Kari, and Gatomon. 


 Patamon... digivolve to... 
 ANGEMON!! 
 Angemon... digivolve to... 
 MAGNAANGEMON!!! 

 Gatomon... digivolve to... 
 ANGEWOMON!! 


 "Get the air forces!!" A loudspeaker blared. A pair of turrets rose from the
 top of the command station and started firing wildly into the air, nailing
 Paildramon straight. 

 "YYYAAAAAHH!!!" Paildramon bellowed, clutching a bloody spot on his chest.
 He began to slow down and lose altitude accordingly. 

 "Paildramon!!" Davis screeched. 

 Angewomon bounded back from the surface of the hovercraft and took flight,
 suspending the wounded Paildramon in the air. "Paildramon! What are you
 doing here?!" 

 "Ultimanium already has the Dragon Balls from his craft!" Paildramon choked.
 "I figured... I would help out with yours." 

 Angewomon drifted slightly. She quickly reasserted herself and hauled
 Paildramon back into the air. "You don't need to, we're alright, and, you're
 hurt..." 


 "Keep going!" The loudspeaker wailed again. "We've got the demon-thing on
 the ropes!!" The cannons began blaring away again. 

 "Hell!..." Angewomon gasped. She flung herself in front of Paildramon and
 took a heavy blast of energy to the rear, sending them both down. As they
 spiraled in their quick moment heading toward the ground, Angewomon flipped
 herself around, making her hit the ground underneath Paildramon. Paildramon
 struggled to suspend himself over the downed Angewomon. 

 "Hey, cut it out! I'm supposed to hit the ground first!" Paildramon shouted,
 shakiness in his voice. 

 "Hey, you give some, you get some." Angewomon laughed. 

 Paildramon grinned, fighting back against the pain inflicted on him. "Oh,
 you really mean that, don't you?" 










 Paildramon... Mega Digivolve to.... 
 IMPERIALDRAMON!!! 
 Imperialdramon... Mode Change to... 
 FIGHTER MODE!!! 




 "Let's see how they deal with this," Imperialdramon bellowed. 

 "How are you doing all this digivolving on your own?!" Angewomon belted out.


 "Ultimanium's secret. C'mon, you don't want to leave all this up to a ditz
 like Davis, do you?" 

 Angewomon brushed herself off. "Guess not." Both digimon hovered up and
 rocketed back forward to their hovercraft. 











 "Dumbasses!!" TK screamed, bringing the Sword down as hard as he could on an
 android's head, busting it open. "No one does that to my friends and gets
 away with it!!" Davis covered his back, destroying any androids on opposite
 sides of him with quick double-slashes. Tai and Gohan worked on defending
 each other, too. 


 Raul quickly brung his hands together. 

 "Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright! 
 Gather together in my hand and become an inferno... 
 BURST FLARE!" 

 A ball of light formed in the chest of an android, catching his attention.
 Before he could examine it, it erupted in a shockwave and a gigantic shaft
 of blue-white flame, dissolving the android where it stood. Any pieces that
 remained of the android flew off harmlessly. 

 The android a ways away landed a hard punch to TK's gut. "I'm sure
 Ultramagnus would have fun toying with you. I'll leave you alone for now." 

 A shaft of white light formed around TK's blade. "Too late!!" TK threw the
 sword in front of him as hard as he could, severing the android in half
 instantly. TK turned around and lashed out at the last several androids,
 slashing them all apart in multiple bursts of light. The lashes of the Sword
 echoed with power. 

 Kari dashed to the rear of the craft, where everybody watched. "Dragon
 Balls!" She held up a orb. She didn't notice, however, the 2 androids
 sneaking up behind her. 

 "Kari!!" Tai yelled. "Behind you!!" 

 "..Tai? Wha...aah!!" The left android reached forward and stuck Kari in a
 headlock, slowly cocking her head back. "Damn it!" Tai yelled. "Let her go!"


 The right android grinned. "You can have her head once we get it off." 

 "Eh... guys?" Davis laughed nervously, backing away from a circle of
 androids closing around him and TK. "Could we get some love over here?" 

 Gohan gulped. "We're surrounded..." A ring of at least 30 androids cornered
 the group on the bridge. Another 10 held MagnaAngemon down, beating on him. 




 "We could use some help here," Raul muttered. 

 "What do you expect?" Wargreymon groaned. "Some holy force is going to save
 us or something?" He glared down at MagnaAngemon. 






 TK froze. "Stop." 

 "What is it, Takeru?" Raul questioned, looking around. 











 "Cretins!" A deep voice boomed. "Let go of those children, now! Do it now,
 or you will be quick to feel my wrath!" 

 Davis blinked. "..I... I know that voice..." 

 "We are proud to present," another voice cackled. "The sequel to The
 Destruction of The Digidestined - The Destruction of Ultramagnus! An encore
 presentation!" 

 Tai gaped. "No! It couldn't be..." 






 All the androids checked above them as a large, dark figure shot across the
 hydrofoil and arced up into the sky, stopping. 





















































 "Blackwargreymon?!?" Wargreymon bellowed. 


 "Terra Destroyer!!" Blackwargerymon swung a crimson red ball of energy down
 at the ground ahead of the hydrofoil, blasting it up. As the hydrocraft
 swirved around the uprisen ground in front of it, a lanky, more agile figure
 bounded onto the deck of the craft. 















































 "Piedmon!!" Kari yelled. "What does he want?!" 


 Piedmon swept his arms behind him and plucked swords from behind him, two in
 each hand. "The forces of Ultramagnus were a force to be reckoned with on
 the continent of Server, yes! But it was then that Blackwargreymon and
 Piedmon, justice warriors of the Digiworld, fought back and defeated
 Ultramagnus and returned peace to Server!! Trump Sword!!!" Piedmon tossed
 blades in all directions with surprising grace, swords punching through all
 the androids remaining. As they crumpled to the ground, Piedmon held his
 hands out and caught all four blades by the hilt and slid them back into his
 4-way sheath. "And everybody lived happily ever after." 


 Tai stepped forward, blades drawn and ready to fight. "Alright, Piedmon!
 What do you want?" 

 Blackwargreymon touched down on the surface of the craft. "Who are you
 children? What are you doing here? This is a very dangerous place to be!" 

 "The guy asked you a question!" Davis shouted. "Speak up!" 

 Piedmon grinned. "Why, just resolving the Ultramagnus production, that's
 all. I assure you, it's bound to be a very happy ending." 


 Raul stepped up. "I think I might have a valid explanation for this.
 Piedmon, Blackwargreymon, how did you get to the continent of Server?" 

 Blackwargreymon bowed his head. "We are here to find and defeat the dictator
 Ultramagnus." 

 Raul lifted an eyebrow. "There is something Ultramagnus has done to you?" 

 "Ultramagnus has totally annihilated the Digital World," Blackwargreymon
 muttered. "We chased him through a sort of transport gate he created in the
 Digital World recently, and we followed him here. We realized that
 transports were headed toward his new headquarters here, so we stepped in
 and intercepted them, as you now know." 

 Imperialdramon landed behind everyone. "Does that mean he's from the 2.5
 Digital World?" 

 Piedmon sat down. "I'm not sure if I catch your little story here." 

 "You've just followed Ultramagnus into an alternate dimension," TK said.
 "Ultramagnus has been obliterating worlds and jumping between dimensions.
 We've been trying to defeat him too. To tell you the truth, your forms in
 this dimension are both dead." 

 Blackwargreymon blinked. "We were... destroyed?" 

 Piedmon glanced over. "What difference does it make? You! What are you all
 doing in the Digital World?" 

 Davis scratched the back of his head. "...well... we're... the digidestined
 from this dimension." 

 Piedmon glanced hesitantly around at the group. "...well, normally I would
 kill you all then, but there's too many of you." 

 The Wing Zeromus landed behind Piedmon, unloading Magnus and his group. 

 "We never said we wanted to fight." Magnus said. 

 Raul grinned. "Well, aren't we all in the same boat, then?" 

 "Piedmon, do not do anything to the digidestined," Blackwargreymon
 commanded. "If they are against Ultramagnus like they insist, they may be
 able to help us attack Ultramagnus' headquarters. Perhaps we should join up
 with them." 

 After a long pause, Piedmon drooped. "...oh, alright." 







 After a long talk between the Argetlahm crew and their two new comrades, it
 was finally time to return to the ship. But.... 






 As everyone made their way to a viable digiport, Goku went to pick up the
 Dragon Balls - and something hit him. His eyes grew wide. 

 "...um... guys..." Goku stammered. 

 Conker turned around. "..huh? Goku? You're coming or not?" 

 Goku stood, the Dragon Balls cupped in his hands. "There's no Ki radiating
 off these things." 

 Armadillomon tugged on Goku's leg. "What does that mean?" 






 "These aren't the Dragon Balls." 

 Everybody whipped around and stared at Goku in shock. 

 "I thought they tasted funny." Armadillomon muttered. 












 ******** 









 Ultramagnus sat grinning in his chair, his hands to his temples. "Nice try,
 Ultimanium. I have you right where I want you. Excuse me, but the Dragon
 Balls are being brought to my base from the OTHER side of the island! How
 does it feel to have counterfeit Dragon Balls in your hands, bitches?! The
 transports were only decoys!! Right about now, I should..." 



 "Sir," Servant droned. "The cargo you requested is here." 

 Ultramagnus stood and shoved his chair in. "Good. As soon as I wake up
 tomorrow morning, I will be fully rested for my ultimate victory! Until
 then, move the Dragon Balls into my office and triple security." 

 Servant nodded. "Yes, sir." 

 Ultramagnus glared out the window of his 40th floor office onto the
 continent of Server below. "Heh... that must really suck to be in Ulty's
 shoes right about now..." 









 ******** 





 "The Dragon Balls are fakes..." Ultimanium sighed. "If Ultramagnus gets
 access to them now, your world is doomed..." 

 "No way!!" Davis bellowed. "We're going to go back to the Argetlahm, and
 we're gonna arm ourselves up to the max! Isn't that right, Raul?" 

 "I see no other choice." Raul said sternly. 








 Kari ducked out from a bush. "...guys... something's wrong here..." 

 Davis followed Kari back through the bushes out into a clearing. A small
 television sat on a pedestal in the middle of the field - a digiport.
 "Something's wrong with the digiport," Kari spoke, stressed. "It's not
 opening to our commands. Cody even tried one a little ways away from this
 one and it didn't react. TK tried other ones but got no response." 

 Davis' face twisted. "Just fricking great! If we can't get back to the
 Argetlahm, what are we supposed to do?" 

 Ultimanium stepped out of the bushes. "If we can't get back to the
 Argetlahm, we'll stay here for the night. Ultramagnus will be moving the
 Dragon Balls and the Chrono Cross to a testing site at the other end of
 Server. If we can get there first, we'll have a chance to get the
 artifacts." 

 Goku stepped out behind him and took a small capsule from his belt. "Lessee
 here... Capsule Corp emergency survival kit... nah, maybe a couple more..."
 He took several more capsules from his belt and threw them to the ground. A
 massive cloud of smoke followed. As Davis and Kari coughed their way through
 the thick gas, they could see at least 20 sleeping bags in a scattered mess
 on the ground. 

 Conker stared on. "...huzzah..." 

 Duo fell into one instantly. "Hell, it's a bed, don't be fussy. Everybody
 get to sleep now, we'll have to be rested if we hope to get to the other end
 of Server tomorrow morning." 






 ******** 



 Ultramagnus watched the third monitor, showing a 3D diagram of Server.
 "Great.. with all the digiports knocked out and the J3 unaccounted for,
 Ultimanium's finally stuck where he needs to be! Go ahead, have a little
 rest," Ultramagnus snickered to himself. 


 "It's not going to help you." 











 What exactly does Ultramagnus have in mind? Will Ultimanium and the
 Argetlahm crew be able to get to Epoch Rock at the nether reaches of Server
 in time to stop him? What agendas do Blackwargreymon and Piedmon have,
 exactly? Will Veemon ever score? Will we ever find out exactly how many
 licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? Find out the answers
 to all these questions (well, all but one, I guess) next time on the
 Argetlahm Adventures!! 




 END OF CHAPTER 16