The Darkness Returns pt. 2

Yamcha could not believe what he was seeing. Before his eyes, the little pink bird he’d rescued changed into a larger bird with brown and white feathers, then into a jumbo sized bird with the same color feathers and two large horns on his head.

Looking around, Yamcha saw more five more monsters spring up from out of nowhere. There was one that was at least eight feet tall with reddish brown fur, long muscular arms, and floppy rabbit ears. Another floppy eared monster stood in front of the first one, but this one was only about five and a half feet tall, wore pants, and had large guns for hands. There was also a large blue and white dinosaur looking thing with wings, a green guy with an insect's head and wings, and a giant armadillo with a spiked ball on the end of its tail.

“What are those things?” Yamcha asked.

“They’re Digimon,” Yolei said. Yamcha turned toward the direction of her voice only to see her climb up on the back of the big bird. “And the six you saw digivolve are my friends. Don’t worry, they’re on our side.”

“But how did they change like that?”

“I’ll explain later. Right now, Aquilamon and I have some bugs to blast. You’re welcome to help if you want.”

Squidmon moaned as he watched the In-Training Digimon digivolve into their Rookie forms and then into their Champion forms.

“Curse those Earthling meddlers,” he mumbled as he slowly crawled out of the crater he made when he hit the ground. “I’ll crush them for their interference.”

Squidmon smiled as he spotted the young black haired warrior and the short, bald warrior fighting five Snimon. He leaped into the air, planning to pounce on them and choke them to death with his tentacles.

Before he could land of the two fighters, the spiked tail of Ankylomon, Armodillomon’s champion form, hit him in the face and sent him flying backward.

“Don’t you know that it’s not nice to sneak up on people?” Ankylomon asked.

Gohan and Krillin knocked out the last two Snimon, turned around and gasped when they saw Ankylomon.

“Woah,” said Krillin. “Where’d he come from?”

Gohan got into a fighting stance. “I don’t know, but his size doesn’t scare me.”

Cody put himself between the two Z Fighters and his Digimon. “Wait! Don’t attack! He’s not an enemy!”

“Yeah Gohan, so cool it,” said Ankylomon.

“Hey! How did you know my name?” Gohan asked.

“I was in Cody’s backpack when you came over and introduced yourself.”

Krillin and Gohan looked at the large, yellow Digimon with questioning looks on their faces.

“He was a lot smaller then,” explained Cody.

Piccolo, meanwhile, had his hands full with the poisonous Venommon. The cobra Digimon was faster and stronger than she looked and was giving Piccolo a hard time.

“Ready to give up?” Venommon hissed.

“No way,” Piccolo replied. “We’ve just started.”

And to prove he wasn’t out of the fight yet, Piccolo punched Venommon in the chin, and sent her flying backward several feet.

Venommon rubbed her chin and hissed angrily. “You know, you should never hit a lady. She may hit back. Acid Sting!”

Needles of acid flew out of Venommon’s mouth. Piccolo dodged them all which gave Venommon the chance to quickly close the gap between the Namek and herself. With a laugh she swung her spiked tail at Piccolo and pinned his heavy cape to the wall of the stadium.

“Looks like I’ve got you,” said Venommon.

“Think again,” said Piccolo. He took off his cape and turban, then grabbed Venommon’s tail.

“What are you doing?” demanded Venommon. “Let go of my tail!”

Piccolo was all to happy to obey her command right after he spun her around for a few seconds. Venommon screeched as she flew through the air. In a flash, Piccolo was directly above her. He punched Venommon in the head and knocked her out of the sky. The snake Digimon crash landed five feet in front of one of the soccer goals. She lay there for a minute or two before slowly getting up.

Piccolo floated down to Venommon. “It seems that you’re a lot tougher than I gave you credit for. I didn’t think you’d survive that.”

“Yes, I am extremely tough.” She put one of her right hand behind her back. The finger nails on it glowed and grew to about a foot and a half. “How about you? Talon Swipe!“

She swung her right hand at Piccolo so fast that Piccolo didn’t have time to react. With one blow, Venommon severed Piccolo’s left arm.

Venommon laughed as her nails glowed purple. She pointed them at Piccolo’s arm. Energy shot from the nails and disintegrated the severed limb. “If I must, I will delete you a chunk at a time.”

Piccolo smiled. “You’re not the first to do that.”

“Oh?”

“No. And you won’t be the first to regret doing so.”

Venommon threw her head back and laughed. Her laughter was soon silenced when a blue lizard with wings kicked her into the soccer goal.

A young boy with spiky brown hair ran up to the winged lizard. “Ex-Veemon shoots. He scores!”

Piccolo recognized the boy as one of the kids the Z Fighters saved from being crushed. “Didn’t I tell you to get out of here?”

“Yeah. But I’m a rebel. I seldom listen to grown-ups, especially when it comes to fighting monsters. By the way, I’m Davis.” Davis looked down at Piccolo’s severed arm and gasped. “Woah! She did that to you?! This dame’s more ruthless than I thought.” He turned to his partner, who was preparing to battle an advancing Venommon. “Careful, Ex-Veemon or she’ll cut you to pieces.”

The champion Digimon that was once DemiVeemon stuck out his chest at Venommon. “V Laser!” A powerful laser shot from the V on Ex-Veemon’s chest.

Venommon smiled and knocked the laser aside. Then she struck Ex-Veemon in the face with her tail so hard that Ex-Veemon fell to the ground.

Davis grabbed a the soccer ball that had been left on the field. “You witch!” He dropped kicked it as hard as he could.

The ball struck Venommon in the temple. She screamed in pain, then turned and glared at Davis. “Acid Sting!”

Piccolo jumped in front of Davis as the needles of acid shot out of Venommon’s mouth. The Namek fired an energy blast from his hands that vaporized the needles and struck Venommon in the chest.

The next thing Venommon knew, Piccolo was directly in front of her and his remaining hand was around her throat. The stump of his left arm was cocked back in such a way that Venommon thought he was going to hit her with it.

Venommon laughed. “Ha! So you want to punch me in the face huh? Well just how are you going to do that when your arm is....?”

She was interrupted when a brand new arm shot out of stump of Piccolo’s left arm. Davis and Ex-Veemon stared at it in amazement.

“Woah!”said Davis.

“How’d he do that?” asked Ex-Veemon.

Piccolo flexed his newly restored hand a couple of times before punching Venommon in the face with it. Then he pulled the cobra down and kneed her in the stomach.

Venommon sneered. “I’ll take your head off this time! Talon Swipe!“ She swung her right hand at Piccolo’s head.

Piccolo grabbed the long nails with his left hand just before they reached his neck. With a shout he broke them off her hand.

Venommon screamed. “You broke my nails! My long, lovely nails!” She smacked Piccolo with her tail as hard as she could. “How dare you!”

Piccolo went flying across the field to where Ken and Stingmon were fighting the Bakemon. Venommon was about to slither over there and finish him off, when Ex-Veemon slammed his head into the back of her hood.

Goku flew toward Locomon like a rocket, but still the evil Digimon was able to step out of the way just in time. However, he was not ready for Goku’s next move. The Super Saiyan stopped in mid air and thrust his heel into Locomon’s back, sending him reeling forwards. Locomon retaliated by swinging around and hitting Goku in the face with his tentacles.

Kari and Gatomon watched the fight anxiously from their sticky cocoon.

“Do you think he has a chance?” Kari asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Gatomon. “I heard a lot about Locomon when I worked for Myotismon. He was extremely fast and so powerful that no Digimon stood a chance against him. He almost conquered the entire Digital World until Geni locked him and his followers in a force field in some secret place. I don’t think a human could possibly have the power to beat him. But then again, I didn’t think it was possible for a human to fly, or move faster than the speed of light, or change his hair from black to blonde without hair dye. Maybe this guy does have a chance.”

“You know, I don’t think he is human.”

“Then what is he? A Digimon?”

“I’m not sure. He said he was a Super Saiyan. Whatever that is. I just hope he can beat Locomon.”

But at the moment, the two fighters were dead even. No matter how fast one would throw a punch or kick, the other would block it. And when the occasional blow did hit its target, the one on the receiving end was quick to return the favor to his opponent.

Goku was amazed at how fast the Ultimate could move. The guy was pale and looked like he was nothing but flesh and bones under that robe. Definitely not the type one would expect to have a lot of energy, yet he was moving just as fast as Goku was and seemed to be just as strong.

Finally after several minutes of exchanging blows, Goku dealt Locomon an uppercut that sent the Ultimate sailing upward several feet. Locomon stopped himself and hovered in the air, glaring down at Goku.

Goku cupped his hands at his side. “Ka...me...ha...me...ha!”

Locomon only grinned as the Kamehameha wave soared upwards toward him. “Nightmare Wave!”

The two attacks met in the middle. Goku thought that his attack would over power Locomon’s, but instead the exact opposite happened. The Nightmare Wave struck the Kamehameha and obliterated it. Then, it proceeded to plunge down toward Goku.

“Hurry!” cried Gatomon. “Get out of its way!”

Goku did as he was told and ducked under the wave. It felt freezing cold as it passed over him and struck the ground. The grass it touched shriveled up and died within seconds.

Goku stood up, ready to face Locomon again, but the evil Digimon had vanished from his sight. Goku looked around the field, but couldn’t find a trace of Locomon anywhere.

“Hey,” said Gatomon, “watch out for that Nightmare Wave. Any living thing it touches becomes filled with fear and despair. It only lasts a moment, but that’s all Locomon needs to finish you off.”

Suddenly, Locomon’s tentacles wrapped around Goku’s body, binding it almost completely. Goku looked over his shoulder to see the Ultimate standing behind him with a wicked grin that Goku just wanted to tear off his face.

“I do so loathe people who reveal the effects of my attacks to my enemies before they have a chance to feel them for themselves,” Locomon said.

“So what the cat said about your attack is true,” said Goku. “I guess a coward like you needs to bring his opponent down to his level to even have a chance at winning.”

Locomon tighten his grip on Goku. “I can crush a brave weakling like you as easily as I can a coward.”

“Really? We’ll see. Kaio Ken!”

Red energy shot from Goku’s body and disintegrated Locomon’s tentacles. Locomon cried out in pain and fright and jumped back. Goku turned, lunged at Locomon, and punched him in the face.

Locomon stumbled backward, but quickly regained his balance. “Try and escape this! Darkness Slime!”

Black goo shot form Locomon’s finger tips and covered Goku completely from his neck to his toes. The heavy slime caused Goku to fall over and now he was stuck to the ground.

“Looks like this battle is mine,” said Locomon. he turned his head toward Kari and Gatomon. “Your rescuer has fallen. Should I crush him first, or should I start with you?”

“He’s just too strong,” said Kari.

“Don’t say that,” said Gatomon. “I think Locomon wants you so badly is because of the power you possess. You have the power to defeat him. You just have to unlock it.”

“I don’t know how and I don’t think I can.”

Goku, who overheard what they were saying, decided to speak up. “Listen to me. I don’t know anything about this power you possess, but you’ll never be able to activate it if you doubt yourself. If you have the power to beat this guy, then cast out your doubt and reach for it.”

“Don’t let the darkness win,” pleaded Gatomon.

“Enough,” said Locomon. “Time to meet your end.” He advanced toward Kari and Gatomon with an evil grin on his face.

Kari looked back up at Locomon. Her eyes met his and they were unafraid. “You’re wrong, Gatomon. Both of us have the power to beat him. Neither of us can take him down alone.”

“What was that?” hissed Locomon.

“I said that both of us have the power to beat you! You’re days of terror will be over for good!”

As Kari spoke, both hers and Gatomon’s bodies began to glow with pink light. Locomon screamed in pain and covered his eyes.

Goku watched in amazement as the light seemed to eat away at the goo holding the little girl and her cat prisoner. I can’t believe what I’m sensing, he thought. The girl’s giving off a lot of energy and it’s somehow being absorbed by the cat.

Once the slime was gone, Gatomon began to grow and change shape. “Gatomon digivolve to......Angewomon!” Seconds later, Gatomon had changed into a blonde haired woman wearing a helmet and large, beautiful wings.

Locomon staggered backward. “No! This can’t be!”

“It can,” Angewomon replied. “Now you are going to pay for all the pain and terror you’ve brought to this world today. You should have stayed in the worm hole you were trapped in.”

Locomon flew high into the air and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Nightmare Wave!” He uncrossed his arms and released his attack.

Angewomon released an attack of her own. “Heaven’s Charge!”

The two attacks collided in mid air, but this time, it was Locomon’s attack that was canceled out as Angewomon’s attack plowed through it on its way to him. All Locomon could do was scream as the rainbow colored wave engulfed him completely. When it cleared, Locomon was doubled over in pain, but still very much alive.

Angewomon’s left hand transformed into a bow, and as she pulled back the bow string, a white arrow appeared. “Celestial Arrow!” She released the arrow.

Locomon quickly tried to fly out of the arrow’s path, but moved too slow. The arrow pierced his left side. The evil Digimon screamed and staggered back. Before he could recover, Angewomon flew into the air and began to deliver a round of kicks and punches.

“Go, Angewomon!” cheered Kari.

But Locomon quickly went on the offensive. He grabbed Angewomon’s hair and flung her against the stadium wall. “You may be an Ultimate, but you’re still no match for me!” He flew down to finish her off, but Angewomon was ready for him. She waited until he was almost on her, then plunged a side kick into his gut. Next, she flew up and kicked Locomon in the head.

Why am I wasting this time with this weed? Locomon thought. I should be aiming for her roots, the Digidestend of Light. He floated to the ground and started to spin. “Tornado Spin!” He spun faster and faster until the air around him formed a huge cyclone that blew dirt and cement fragments on Angewomon, Kari, and Goku’s faces.

When the wind finally stopped, the three defenders of good opened their eyes and looked for Locomon, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Where is he?” asked Kari.

Goku sensed some dark power coming from near by. He looked over Kari’s shoulder and saw Locomon creeping out of the shadows toward the girl. “Kari, behind you!”

Kari looked over shoulder, then cried out and began to back away when she saw Locomon.

“Kari!” cried Angewomon. “Hold on!”

“It’s no use to run,” said Locomon said to Kari. “You’re angel friend is too high in the air to be able to help you in time.”

Goku powered up. “Kaio Ken Times Three!” Red energy exploded from Goku’s body with such force that it incinerated the slime that glued him to the grass and made a deep crater in the ground.

Locomon was furious. “Why can’t you just stay down?!”

Goku didn’t waste time answering that. Instead, he lunged at Locomon and punched him in the face. Before the evil Digimon could recover, Goku cupped his hands at his side. “Ka...me...ha...me..ha!”

At the same time, Angewomon pulled back the bowstring of her bow. “Celestial Arrow!”

Locomon was sandwiched in between the two attacks. The Kamehameha Wave hit Locomon in the front, while the Celestial Arrow hit him in the back. Kari didn’t think he’d survive that, but when the light from both attacks cleared, Locomon was on his knees, moaning. He was still alive, but badly hurt.

“You!” the Ultimate rasped. He slowly got to his feet. “I....will...crush....you...still. I....will...not...be..beaten....that....easily.”

“Hand of Fate!” cried a voice from above. A golden energy attack swooped down from the sky and struck Locomon in the shoulder, knocking him down again.

Kari looked up and smiled. “T.K! Angemon!”

Goku looked up and saw a boy about Gohan’s age riding on the back of a man with blue pants, a helmet like Angewomon’s, and white wings. Tien and Chouzu weren’t far behind.

“Hey, Goku,” said Chouzu, “need some help down there?”

“No thanks,” said Goku. “This bone head was just leaving.” He glared down at Locomon. “Right?”

Locomon sneered at Goku. “Very well. I’ll take my leave. But I will be back. None of you have seen the last of me.” A dark porthole opened up underneath him and he sunk into it.

As soon as Tien, Chouzu, and Angemon landed, T.K. jumped off Angemon’s back and ran over to Kari. “Are you okay?”

Kari nodded. “I’m fine.”

Angewomon landed beside Angemon and both of them changed back into Gatomon and Patamon. Goku also changed back into his original form.

“Woah!” said Patamon. “How’d he change his hair from blonde to black like that?”

“No clue,” said Gatomon. “But he and I sure beat the stuffings out of Locomon.”

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the soccer field, the forces of darkness were not doing very well against the combined forces of the Z Fighters and the Digi-Team.

Up in the air, Yamcha was using the last Bakemon as a punching bag. An Airdramon was preparing to fire on him from behind, but the sneaky flying lizard was quickly taken care of by Aquilamon and Yolei.

“Grand Horn!” cried Aquilamon. His horns glowed red hot as he plowed into the Airdramon and knocked him out of the sky.

“Right on!” cheered Yolei.

Down bellow, Willis, Gargomon and Wendigimon had joined forces with Gohan, Krillin, Cody, and Ankylomon to defeat Squidmon and the last of the Flymon and Snimon. Not very many of the insects wanted to pick a fight with the eight foot tall champion form of Lopomon, but Squidmon was not as smart.

“You don’t scare me,” said Squidmon. “The larger they are the harder they fall.”

Wendigimon knew just how to answer that. “Cable Crusher!” Long cables came out of his arms and smacked the squid Digimon into a stadium wall.

Next to add his two cents in was Gargomon, the champion form of Terriermon. “Gargo Pellets!” Several bullets shot from the guns mounted on Gargmon’s arms and hit Squidmon in the face and chest.

“That should finish him off,” said Willis.

“Ink Mist!” cried Squidmon. A black mist shot from Squidmon’s mouth and blinded Wendigimon, Gargomon, and Willis. Squidmon took the opportunity to grab Willis from behind with his tentacles.

“Hey!” cried Willis. “Let me go!”

Squidmon covered Willis’ mouth. “No way. You are now my shield.”

Soon, the mist cleared and the twin Digimon saw that their friend was Squidmon’s captive.

“Let him go,” demanded Wendigimon.

“What are you going to do if I don’t, eh?” asked Squidmon. “Anything you throw at me will just hurt your dear friend.

“He’s right,” said Gargomon. “We can’t do anything while he’s got Willis in front of him like that.”

But there was someone that was in the air and out of Squidmon’s eye sight that could. And that someone was Krillin.

The bald Z Fighter raised a hand high above his head. “Distructo Disk!” A large white disk appeared above the palm of his hand. Krillin threw it down at Squidmon and severed the tentacles that were wrapped around Willis.

Krillin’s next move was to fly down and kick Squidmon in the temple and knocking out the evil Ultimate.

Venommon was also being beaten up by Piccolo, Ex-Veemon, and Stingmon. The Kuwagamon help that she had was gone, so she was all alone.

“Ready to give up?” asked Ken.

“Never,” said Venommon.

“Then we’re just going to have to keep kicking your butt,” said Ex-Veemon. “V Laser!”

“Special Beam Cannon!” cried Piccolo.

The two attacks hit Venommon in the chest. She cried out in pain, but refused to go down.

Stingmon leaped into the air and flew at her like a speeding train. “Spiking Strike!”

Stingmon’s attack hit Venommon in the shoulder and knocked her down. As soon as she hit the ground, a dark hole opened up and swallowed her. Looking around, Piccolo saw that the same thing was happening to all of the other dark creatures all over the soccer field. Within seconds, they had all vanished.

Aquilamon and Yamcha floated down from the sky and landed in the center of the field.

“Hey you guys,” Yolei called out to her friends. “Over here!” She slid off Aquilamon’s back. Then, Aquilamon changed back into Hawkmon.

The other champion Digimon, except Gatomon, changed back into their Rookie forms and rushed over to Yolei with their human partners, followed by the Z Fighters.

“All right,” said Davis. “Great work, team. We taught those creeps not to make trouble in our world.”

Yamcha cleared his throat. “Now that all the craziness is over, maybe you guys could answer some questions.”

“Uhhhh,” said Willis. “Um... Sure.”

“And maybe you can answer some questions that we have,” said Cody.

But before anyone could ask or answer any questions, Kari’s D-terminal beeped. She took it out of her pocket and opened it. “There’s an e-mail here from Geni.”

“Who’s Geni?” asked Tien.

“An old friend,” said T.K.

“He has some information about Locomon that he wants to tell us in person,” said Kari. “He wants us to open a Digiport so he can come over here and talk to us.”

“Digiport?” asked Gohan.

“Yeah. It’s a gate to the Digital World and our world,” explained Yolei.

“And what exactly is this Digital World?” asked Piccolo.

“It’s were we come from,” said Armodillomon. “And those Dark Digimon, too. I think.”

“You guys didn’t happen to bring a laptop computer with you, did you?” asked Davis.

“Nope,” said Chouzu. “Sorry.”

“But there’s a place nearby that has quite a few,” said Goku. “And the people there will probably let you guys use one if you explain the situation to them.”

In his underwater palace, Locomon was stomping around his throne room, chewing out Venommon and Squidmon. Jestermon was watching the whole thing from behind Locomon’s throne, feeling happy that he wasn’t the one being yelled at.

“Idiots!” Locomon fumed. “The Digidestend were completely defenseless against you and your troops! Why couldn’t you destroy them?!”

“The Digidestend might have been, but those Earthlings were not,” said Venommon. “The day would have been ours if they didn’t show up.”

“Those Earthlings should not have been a problem. You are Ultimate Digimon, far superior in power to any being on that pathetic planet Earth. There’s no excuse for losing to them!”

His speech ticked off Squidmon. “May I point out, Lord Locomon, that you did not fare well against that Earthling you were fighting? And you had only one to deal with. I had to fight off four!”

Locomon gave an angry roar and shot an energy blast from his hand. The blast struck Squidmon in the chest and obliterated him. Venommon screamed and backed away from he spot where her comrade once stood.

Locomon glared at Venommon. “Anything you would like to add?”

“No, master!” said Venommon. “You’re right. There is no excuse for losing to those weavings. I underestimated them and that will not be an error I will repeat if you just give me a second chance!” She bowed to Locomon.

“I should delete you here and now for your failure. But since you were so honest with me, I will spare your wretched life for now. Do not fail me again.”

Venommon breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you, sir. I promise, I will not fail you again.”

“See that you don’t.” Locomon flopped down on his throne. “Now, how do I get rid of that watched Digidestend of Light and her nuisance friends?”

Jestermon popped up from behind Locomon’s throne. “Well, you couldn’t defeat them in the real world, so why don’t you bring them here and let the dark ocean deal with them?”

Locomon reached up and ripped Jestermon out from behind his throne. Jestermon braced himself for one of Locomon’s bone breaking blows and wished he’d kept his mouth shut.

But instead of hitting him, Locomon took off Jestermon’s hat and massaged the joker Digimon’s bald head. “I am impressed, Jestermon. You’ve finally used what little you have of a brain. Good work.”

Jestermon sighed with relief. “Thank you, sire. Always a pleasure to serve you.”

Locomon dropped Jestermon. “Venommon, open a gate to the real world. Make it large enough so that the dark powers of this world will leak out into it. It will cause fear and chaos among the Earthlings. I can absorb this and create a vacuum powerful enough to pull all of the Earth’s heroes into the World of Darkness. Then there will be no one will stand in my way.”

Meanwhile, The Z Fighters and the Digi crew were in the sky heading toward........somewhere. Only Goku knew where they were going and the others were following him.

Yolei had used her Digiegg of love to digivolve Hawkmon into the winged Halsemon and was now riding on his back. Veemon and Wormmon had digivolved back into Ex-Veemon and Stingmon and were now carrying Davis and Ken. Kari and T.K. were riding on the backs of Pegasusmon and Nefertimon. Cody and Armodillomon rode with T.K. and Willis and Lopomon rode with Yolei. Since there wasn’t room on Halsemon’s back for Terriermon, he rode with Kari.

During the flight, the Z Fighters and Digidestend exchanged questions and answers about each other. The Z Fighters told the Digidestend a little about themselves, what planet each member of the team came from, and how they all meet, and a little about their powers. The Digidestend in turn told the Z Fighters about the Digital World and how they were chosen to be the Digidestend and meet their Digimon.

“Man, this Digital World sounds almost unbelievable,” said Krillin. “If these Digimon weren’t here I’d never believe that it even existed.”

“Seven guys, most of them aliens, flying around shooting energy out of their hands sounds pretty unreal too,” said Davis. “I’m just glad you’re on our side.”

“Me too,” said Kari.

“It must be cool to be able to fly,” said Willis. “Do you think I could learn how to do it?”

“I don’t know,” said Tien. “I takes a lot of energy to be able to fly. You might not have enough.”

“Hey, who needs flying lessons when you’ve got a great Digimon like Ex-Veemon to fly you around everywhere?” asked Davis

“Um, Goku,” said Terriermon, “are we almost there yet?”

“Yep,” said Goku. “We’re almost on top of it.”

The Digidestend looked down at the many buildings below them.

Yolei cried out with delight. “Capsule Corp?! We’re going to Capsule Corp?! Oh, I always wanted to see that place!”

“Are you sure it’s okay for you guys just to bring us there without asking first?” asked Cody. “I mean, that seems kinda rude.”

“That’s true,” said Yamcha. “Why don’t you guys wait here while I fly down and ask if it’s okay to drop by.”

No one voiced any objections, so Yamcha flew down to Capsule Corp. He was back in about fifteen minutes.

“Dude, what took you so long?” Davis asked.

“It took me awhile to explain what Digimon were and that the ones we’re bringing won’t try and wreak the place,” Yamcha replied. “But we got the go ahead to come down.”

“All right,” said Yolei. “Let’s go.”

Within minutes, the Digidestend, Digimon, and Z Fighters landed in the back yard of Capsule Corp. There were three people in the yard waiting for them; Bulma, and her parents, Doctor and Mrs. Briefs.

When their passengers were off of their backs, Stingmon, Ex-Veemon, Halsemon, Pegasusmon, and Nefertimon regressed back into Wormmon, Veemon, Hawkmon, Patamon, and Gatomon.

“Oh, how cute!” exclaimed Mrs. Briefs. “Honey, aren’t they just adorable?”

“Well, yes. I suppose,” said Dr. Briefs.

“Hello,” said Wormmon. “My name is Wormmon. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“And so polite,” said Bulma. “It’s hard to believe they’re monsters. Are all of you Digimon so nice?”

“Most of us are,” Patamon said. “But some Digimon are just plain nasty.”

“Like the ones who attacked the stadium this afternoon,” said T.K.

As T.K. introduced himself and the rest of the Digidestend and Digimon to the Briefs family, Davis caught sight of a large dome shaped structure looming just a few feet away. “Excuse me, but what’s that thing over there?”

“That is a gravity simulator,” answered Dr. Briefs.

“What does it do?” asked Lopomon.

“Well, the control panel inside changes the gravity inside the dome with just a push of a button.”

“Neat,” said Yolei. “Do you use it to pack all that cool stuff into your capsules?”

“No,” said Bulma. “Vegeta works out in there. Though why he does, is beyond me.”

“Who’s Vegeta?” asked Willis.

“The only other pure blooded Saiyan alive,” said Piccolo.

“And he’s lost his mind,” said Bulma. “He trains in the simulator all day and sometimes all night. And he’s got it up to 450 times the Earth’s normal gravity.”

The Z Fighters, Digidestend, and Digimon gasped.

“450 times Earth’s gravity?!” exclaimed Ken. “How can he possibly survive under those conditions?”

“I don’t know. And to be honest, I don’t think he can for very much longer.”

“He must want to become a Super Saiyan more badly than I thought,” said Goku.

“This I gotta see,” said Davis. “Come on, Veemon.”

“Right behind ya, pal,” said Veemon.

They raced off to the dome.

Dr. Briefs called after them. “Davis, Veemon, wait!”

Davis and Veemon ignored him and peered through a small window on the dome’s door. Inside was a small man with spiky black hair and large muscles. He was dodging laser bolts that were being fired at him from floating robots. Suddenly, the warrior charged forward and started zapping the robots with energy attacks. One of the blasts went too high and hit the control panel instead of a robot. Smoke and sparks flew from the panel and the system shut down.

Vegeta took a few moments to catch his breath before turning around and seeing Davis and Veemon looking at him from the window. Vegeta scowled and threw open the door to the dome. Davis and Veemon gasped and stumbled backward. Vegeta walked out of the dome and scowled at Davis and Veemon.

“Uh, Davis, he doesn’t look very happy,” observed Veemon.

With a blur of motion, Vegeta grabbed Davis by the shirt collar and Veemon by the scuff of the neck. Then, he lifted both of them off the ground.

Goku walked up to the Saiyan prince. “Take it easy, Vegeta.”

Vegeta glared at Goku. “I thought I sensed your energy, Kakarot. Have you and your little friends come to spy on me?”

“Chill dude,” said Davis. “Nobody’s come here to spy. We just wanted to see you work out.”

Vegeta turned his attention back to Veemon and Davis. “I am not some side show freak that you can stare at for entertainment.”

Cody steped forward and bowed. “Please forgive my friends, sir. They didn’t mean to interrupt your work out. They were just curious.”

The corners of Vegeta’s mouth turned upward slightly. “Finally, an Earthling with some manners. What is your name, boy?”

“My name is Cody.”

“Well, Cody. Since you’ve shown me more respect than anyone else on this planet, I will spare the lives of your miserable friends.” He dropped Davis and Veemon. “This once.” He shot a warning glance at them. “But do not cross me again, or I will make you regret it.”

“Are you guys okay?” Armodillomon asked.

“I think so,” said Veemon. “Man, that guy is tough.”

“You didn’t have to suck up to him like that,” Davis whispered to Cody.

“It was better than watching you get beaten to a bloody pulp,” Cody whispered back.

Minutes later, all of the Z Fighters, the Briefs family, the Digidestend, and their Digimon were standing inside Capsule Corp’s main laboratory, They were crowded around a computer watching Yolei trying to find the gate that Geni was standing by. While she worked, the Digidestend told Vegeta a little about the Digiworld and what went on that afternoon in Odiva.

“You expect me to believe this wild tale of yours?” Vegeta asked. “A world one can travel to through a computer? And these creatures you call Digimon can transform into stronger beings with the help of some weakling children? What sort of idiot do you take me for?”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you saw our Digimon fighting in Odiva this afternoon,” said Davis.

“And how come you weren’t there?” asked Tien. “I would think that the self proclaimed strongest warrior in the universe wouldn’t sit out a fight against an army of monsters.”

Bulma answered that question. “He didn’t even know the fight was going on. I tried to tell him about it, but he was too busy with his training to listen to me.”

“Quiet, woman,” snapped Vegeta.

“I got it!” cried Yolei. She brought up a Digiport on the monitor.

“That’s a Digiport?” asked Gohan.

Yolei nodded.

“Now what?” asked Hawkmon.

The Digiport opened and a bright light came out of it. Yolei gave a startled cry and backed away from it. When the light cleared, a tall man wearing a strange looking robe. The man took off his hood reveling a handsome face that put butterflies in Yolei’s stomach.

“Uh...hi I’m Yolei.” she said.

“Who are you?” asked Kari.

“I guess it has been a long time since we last saw each other,” the young man said. “It’s me. Geni.”

“Wait a minute,” said Krillin. “I thought you guys said that Geni was an old man.”

“That’s what he was when we last saw him,” said Patamon.

“How’d you get so young?” Gatomon asked.

“I’ll have to explain that another time. Right now there’s something more urgent we need to discuss.”

“You mean Locomon, don’t you?” asked Kari.

Geni nodded. “It won’t be long before he recovers and returns for round two.”

“Didn’t you lock Locomon away once?” Wormmon asked.

“Yes. It was eight years ago after my colleges and I had chosen the Digidestend. As we were creating the crests, Locomon and his army attacked us. He was determined to destroy the Crest of Light before its owner could fulfill the ancient prophecy.”

“What prophecy?” asked Chouzu.

“The prophecy that foretold Locomon’s demise at the hands of the Digidestend. 'When the darkness returns and covers the world, the power of light and hope will be placed in the hands of the chosen children and the Digimon will rise above the power of Ultimate and crush its power forever.’ Before Locomon could succeed, however, I used my powers to lock him and his army in what is now the World of Darkness.”

“So,” said Gohan. “if hope and light can defeat Locomon, why did he only go after Kari?”

“Locomon doesn’t know all of the prophecy,”replied Geni. “He thinks that it only takes the power of light to crush him.”

“Does this mean that Patamon and I can beat this guy?” asked Gatomon.

“Yes. But you will have to find a way to digivolve into your Mega forms.”

“But how are we going to do that?” asked Patamon.

Geni shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“You won’t need to,” said Vegeta. “I will break this Locomon single handedly the next time he comes here. I could use the warm-up for my next workout.”

“Vegeta,” said Goku, “I couldn’t even beat Locomon single handedly. I don’t think you have a chance.”

“You’re telling me that what two weakling children and their silly pets can do, you can’t do better? You’re more pathetic than I thought.”

“Big talk for someone who isn’t a Super Saiyan yet,” said Yamcha.

Vegeta clenched his fists. “Why you..!”

“Please,” said Geni. “Vegeta, your friend is right. You can’t beat Locomon by yourself. Not if he comes back here to fight.”

Vegeta gave Geni a dirty look. “For your information, Kakarot and I are far from being friends. And what makes you so sure that I won’t be able to blast this Locomon to cinders?”

“Locomon can absorb fear and despair from any living thing around him. If he and his army causes a panic here, it will give him more power than any one warrior can handle.”

Before the debate could continue, the sky outside became as dark as midnight and a strong wind began to blow.

“I sense an evil power in the air,” said Gohan.

“It’s Locomon,” said Kari. “He’s back.”

Willis and his Digimon looked out the window.

“And looks like he brought some friends,” said Terriermon.

“Where’d he get so many Digimon?” asked Willis.

Geni, the Z Fighters, and the rest of the Digimon and Digidestend joined Willis and the twins at the window. Hundreds of dark colored Digimon were popping up out of nowhere and were starting to tear apart the city.

“Those aren’t real Digimon,” Geni explained. “They’re just clones made from Digimon DNA and the water from the Dark Ocean.”

“Whatever they are, we need to stop them before innocent people get hurt,” said Goku.

The Z Fighters, Digimon, and Digidestend raced outside.

“This is crazy,” said Yolei. “There’s only twenty-three of us and hundreds of them. How are we supposed to stop them all?”

“Hopefully, we won’t have to,” said Goku. “If we can take out Locomon, the rest may disappear or go back to where they came from.”

An evil laughter rang above their heads and the Z Fighters and the Digi crew looked up to see Locomon floating above them.

“An interesting hypothesis, Goku,” said Locomon. “But it is highly unlikely that you will defeat me now that I am gaining more power by the minute thanks to the chaos my Digimon clones are creating. Soon I will be supreme ruler of this world and before this day is out, I will conquer the entire universe. All living beings will be under my control.”

“Not while we’re around,” said T.K.

“Then you won’t be around.” Locomon lifted his arms skyward. About seven feet above him, a large porthole opened. “I hope you’ll enjoy your stay in the World of Darkness. You’ll be there for the rest of your lives!”

The Digidestend felt themselves being levitated into the air and toward the porthole. The Z Fighters and Digimon used their energy to keep themselves on the ground, the reached out to grab the Digidestend. Piccolo, Yamcha, Krillin, and Tien managed to grab Yolei, Ken, Cody, and Davis before they floated too far away. But T.K., Kari, and Willis floated out of their grasp.

“Help us!” cried Kari.

Angemon and Angewomon flew up to catch their floating friends, but they were soon caught in the suction themselves and reduced back to Patamon and Gatomon.

Wendigimon jumped into the air to catch them with his gigantic hands, but as soon as he got near them, he turned back into Lopomon. Gargomon met the same fate when he tried to rescue his brother.

“Hold on!” cried Gohan. He flew into the air and grabbed his friends by their shirt collars.

T.K., Kari, and Willis held their arms and grabbed their Digimon. They held on to them as tight as they could as Gohan started to pull them back to Earth. But the young Saiyan was caught in the suction of the porthole and was beginning to be pulled toward it.

Geni and the Briefs family watched the drama unfold from inside Capsule Corp.

“Do something!” Bulma begged Geni.

“I’m working on it,” Geni replied. He raised his hands toward the porthole. Rainbow colored light formed around the porthole and quickly began to seal it.

“No Geni,” said Locomon. “You won’t ruin my plans a second time.” He raised his hands again and increased the suction power of the porthole.

This was too much for Gohan to fight. He, the Digidestend, and Digimon shot toward the porthole like a bullet from a gun. Just as they were about to go through, Gohan felt something grab his waist and stop them. Looking up, he saw that it was his father in Super Saiyan mode.

“You won’t escape!” declare Locomon. He increased the suction of the porthole once more.

The Z Fighters and Champion Digimon couldn’t keep themselves on the ground anymore. They were sucked into the sky with the Digidestend. Goku, Gohan, Willis, Kari, T.K., the twins, Patamon, and Gatomon were pulled into the porthole. The others were about to follow, when the rainbow light sealed the gateway, trapping the two Saiyans, four Digimon, and three Digidestend inside the World of Darkness.

The sound of the ocean waves crashing against the shore was the first sound Kari heard when she came back to consciousness. She stood up to find two things. 1. She was in the World of Darkness with the other people she’d been sucked in with. 2. They were all covered with some kind of clear slime. But as the others started to wake, the slime slithered off their bodies and into the water.

“Where are we?” asked Gohan.

“The World of Darkness,” said T.K.

“Great,” said Willis. “How do we get out of here?”

“You don’t,” said a horse voice.

Nine blobs of slime popped out of the water and glared at the new arrivals with evil red eyes.

“We have been ordered by our master to destroy you. Here , your powers will not be strong enough to defeat us. Surrender and your end will be quick and painless.”

“And just what makes you think you can defeat us?” asked Goku.

“Because we absorbed your DNA,” said the blobs. Their bodies transformed into mirror images of Goku, Gohan, and the Digi crew. “We have all of your powers and more.”

Lopomon looked at his evil counterpart and gulped. “What do we do now?”

Bulma stared with her mouth hanging open at the empty space where the gate used to be. She was still in shock after watching Goku, Gohan, and the other three kids and their Digimon get sucked into the gate right before it closed. Who knew where they were now?

“I’m afraid Locomon has become much more powerful than I thought he would. There’s no way I can seal him up again in the World of Darkness.”

Bulma grabbed Geni by the shirt. “Then just reopen the gate and let Goku, Gohan, and those Digi-kids out?”

“I can’t,” said Geni.

Bulma shook him with all of her might. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T?! YOU JUST OPENED IT LIKE TWO SECONDS AGO! NOW GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER AND OPEN THAT GATE SO MY FRIENDS CAN GET OUT OF WHAT EVER DARK AND DISMAL PLACE YOU LOCKED THEM IN!”

Dr. Briefs put a hand on his daughter’s arm. “Now, calm down sweetheart. I’m sure there is an some sort of reasonable explanation for this.”

Bulma stopped shaking Geni and pushed him backwards. “There had better be.”

Geni took a moment to catch his breath before answering. “I can’t open the gate again because Locomon has put a seal on it that I can’t break. But that doesn’t mean that the Digidestend and your two Saiyan friends are trapped in the World Of Darkness. My colleagues put something there before I locked Locomon away in case something like this ever happened.”

“What is this thing?” asked Bulma. “And will they be able to find it?”

“For the sake of all creation, I hope so.”

Davis faced Locomon with an angry scowl. “You’re going to pay for that.”

Locomon laughed “Oh, I think not. I didn’t get all of you through the gate like I hopped I would, but no matter. The fear my creations are causing is making my being stronger. Stronger than any of you can ever imagine.”

“We’ll see about that!” Davis turned to Ex-Veemon, Ken, and Stingmon. “Let’s DNA digivolve and take this guy out!”

“I’m with ya,” said Ex-Veemon.

“Let’s do it,” agreed Stingmon.

Ken and Davis’ digivices and Digimon glowed. Ex-Veemon and Stingmon were reduced to green and blue molecules that swirled together to form the mighty Paildramon.

Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, and Chouzu gasped in amazement. They’d never seen anything like this.

Locomon took one look at Paildramon and laughed. “Is this some kind of joke?”

“You won’t be laughing when I’m finished with you,” Paildramon declared. He jumped into the air and attacked.

“He’s going down,” Yamcha said

He was about to follow Paildramon, but Tien stopped him. “Wait Yamcha. Those Digimon copies are still terrorizing innocent people. We have to stop them or their may be casualties.”

“He’s right,” said Cody.

“Then go,” said Vegeta. “I will deal with this shriveled weakling.” He flew into the air and shot toward Locomon.

Cody couldn’t believe that the Saiyan prince still wanted to battle Locomon alone. “But Vegeta....”

“Let him go, Cody,” said Piccolo. “It may do Vegeta some good to get some sense knocked into him. Now come on, we’ve wasted enough time talking.”

Vegeta increased his speed, intending to reach Locomon before Paildramon did. Suddenly, he felt something wrap around his legs and slam him down on a high, flat roof top.

“Who dares?!” demanded Vegeta.

“Me.”

Vegeta looked up to see the blue body of a large cobra with a human face towering over him.

“I assume that you’re the Venommon that the little children told me so much about.”

Venommon grinned. “Did they mention how ruthless of a fighter I am?”

Vegeta snorted. “To them, you were ruthless, but to me you’re nothing more than a spineless snake who should have stayed under the rock she crawled out of.”

“Guess, I will just have to prove myself to you, weak Earthling.”

Vegeta growled and jerked his legs to one side and flung Venommon to the edge of the roof.

“Get this strait,” Vegeta said as he walked toward Venommon. “I am not an Earthling. I am a Saiyan, a being far superior to any on this planet or in your Digital World.”

Venommon got up and prepared to fight. “Well see.”

Gohan, the three Digidestend, and their Digimon gasped in horror and backed away from the beach as their evil clones came ashore. They looked exactly like the originals, except for their glowing red eyes. If Goku was somehow phased by the appearance of the clones, he didn’t show it. Instead he stood in front of the kids and got ready to fight.

Goku’s evil clone smiled. “You don’t seem to be afraid of us.”

Kari gasped. The voice of the copy sounded exactly like Goku.

“Why should I be?” the original Goku asked. “Just because you look like me, doesn’t mean you can beat me.”

The evil clone laughed. “Come on, now. I have all of your incredible power, but none of your pathetic honor and goodwill. You’re history, Saiyan!”

The Goku clone lunged at his counterpart. Goku jumped into the air to avoid him, then kicked him in the face. Goku Clone grabbed Goku’s heel, then slammed him into the sand.

Gohan couldn't bear to see his father fighting this Saiyan wanna be alone. He leaped into the air and flew over to kick the clone in the back of the head. Goku Clone sensed him coming, turned and fired a ki blast. Gohan took the hit in the face and was pushed back and down into the sand. He skipped across the sand like a stone across the surface of water until he came to a stop at the feet of his own grinning evil twin.

Goku clone laughed, but his laughter quickly died when Goku sat up and punched him in the stomach as hard as he could. Goku jumped to his feet and put all of his might into an upper cut that sent the clone upward several feet.

Goku cupped his hands at his side. “Ka..me..ha.. ouch!” He felt something tear into his arm. Looking down, he saw five deep gashes in his left arm and the Gatomon clone glaring at him with her evil cat eyes. She sprang into the air to scratch the Saiyan in the face. Goku mearly knocked her aside with his right arm. Gatomon Clone landed on her feet a meter and a half in front of her dark clone partner.

“Not bad,” said the Kari clone. She took her digivice out of her pocket. “Now let’s see how well you do once she’s digivolved.”

Goku wasn’t anxious to find out how well he would fare against an evil Angewomon. He was about to use his super speed to grab the device away, but then his clone came down from the sky and kicked him in the back.

Goku went to his knees, but quickly recovered and got up to face his evil double once more.

“Let’s take this up a notch,” suggested Goku Clone. With a smile, he transformed into a Super Saiyan.

“Agreed,” said Goku. He tried to change into a Super Saiyan, but for some reason, he couldn’t seem to get his power level high enough. Hey! What’s going on here?

By this time, Gatomon Clone had dark digivolved into a dark Angewomon.

“Now,” said Kari Clone, “let’s go tear that goody-good twin of mine and her kitty to tiny tiny bloody bits.”

She took a step forward, but that was as far as she got before T.K. and Patamon jumped out in front of her and Angewomon Clone.

“You’ll have to get past us first,” said T.K.

Angewomon Clone laughed. “You and your little Rookie stop us? I’d love to see you try.”

“We will and you’ll be sorry.” T.K. pulled out his digivice. “All right, Patamon. Digivolve into Magna Angemon and show them who’s top mon.”

Patamon tried to digivolve, but he couldn’t reach his Ultimate form, Magna Angemon. He couldn’t even reach the champion level. He stayed a rookie.

“Hey, what’s the deal?” he asked.

Kari Clone smiled. “The deal is, the World of Darkness’ powers are preventing you from digivolving and your friend over there from going Super Saiyan.”

Angewomon Clone flew into the air and summoned her bow. Then she fired a black arrow at T.K. and Patamon.

“Watch out!” cried Patamon.

He and T.K. dove out of the arrow’s way.

Meanwhile, Gohan, Kari, Willis, and their digimon were facing the Gohan, Willis, and T.K. clones and their digimon clones, who had all dark digivolved into their champion forms. The dark clones of Willis, T.K., Gargomon, and Wendigimon, stood in front of Gohan and the Digi-crew, while Angemon and Gohan’s evil twins hovered above their comrades’ heads. Willis and Kari had tried to get their Digimon to digivolve, but learned that it was impossible.

“I don’t get it,” said Gatomon. “I was able to digivolve the last two times we were here.”

“Yeah,” said Kari. “But both of those times the gate was opened.”

“The powers of this world must block the digimon’s digivolving powers,” said Willis.

“It blocks any being’s ability to transform,” said the Willis clone.

“Of course, we’re an exception,” said the Angemon clone.

“And you’re history,” said the Gohan clone. He cupped his hands above his head. “Ma..se..ko..Ha!

As the ki blast came down toward him and his friends, Gohan cupped his hands at his side to counter attack with his father’s choice move. “Ka..me..ha..me..ha!”

The Kamehameha hit the Maseko and sent it sailing back towards Gohan Clone. The evil half Saiyan flew out of its way at the last second, but Angemon Clone, who was behind him, wasn’t as quick. Both attacks struck him in the chest and sent him flying backwards for miles.

Gohan Clone smiled. “Pretty good, but not good enough.”

Gohan Clone disappeared, then reappeared in front of Gohan. The clone threw a punch at Gohan. Gohan dodged it and counter attacked with a kick to the gut.

At the same time, the Gargomon clone was making his move on the Digidestend and Digimon.

Gargo Pellets! he cried.

“Watch out!” cried Terriermon.

He and his friends scrambled in different directions to avoid the bullets being shot at them from Gargomon Clone’s machine gun hands. Kari and Gatomon’s path was soon blocked by the giant form of Wendigimon’s clone.

The champion rabbit Digimon laughed and raised his foot to crush Kari and Gatomon. The two Digi-partners quickly got out from under his foot just as it came down to squash them.

“He’ going to pay for that,” said Gatomon.

She sprang into the air and landed just above Wendigimon Clone’s knee.

“Be careful,” said Kari.

“Lightning Paw!”cried Gatomon as she raked her claws into Wingdemon Clone’s flesh.

Wendigimon’s leg buckled and he went down to his knee. Gatomon sprang up to try and hit him in the face, but Wingdemon slapped her aside like an insect.

“Oh no!” cried Kari.

Things were pretty bad for the remaining Z Fighters, Digimon, and Digidestend still on Earth. Those who were fighting the Digimon clones were slowly being overwhelmed by their vast numbers.

From her perch on Aquilamon’s back, Yolei looked around the city in despair. She and her friends were out numbered a zillion to one.

“There’s just too many of them,” she whined.

Nearby, Piccolo was shooting down Phantomon with ki blasts. “Just hang in there, Yolei. We need to protect the city as long as we can.”

“Until what?”

“Until Kari, T.K. and the others get back,” said Aquilamon. “Don’t give into fear and despair. It’s what makes Locomon stronger.”

But how can anyone not be just a little afraid with all of these monsters running around and tearing the city apart? Yolei wondered.

Down below, Ken was trying to free a sobbing little girl who was trapped under a heavy piece of roof. The roof was heavy and no matter how hard Ken tried, he couldn’t lift it.

A voice called down to him from above. “Need some help down there?”

Ken looked up to see Krillin coming down out of the air. The little girl stopped crying and gasped.

“You couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Ken.

Krillin grabbed the roof and pushed it off the little girl.

“Wow!” she exclaimed. “Thanks, mister.”

“No problem, kid,” Krillin replied.

Ken pointed over Krillin’s shoulder. “We’ve got company.”

Krillin turned and gasped. “What is that thing?”

“A Monocromon clone,” Ken explained.

Krillin picked up the girl and handed her to Ken. “You get her out of here. I’ll hold him off.”

“Oof!” said Tien as he was slammed into a wall by a Mearamon clone.

“Tien are you okay?” asked Cody.

Tien slowly got to his feet. “Yeah.”

Nearby, Ankylomon was fighting a Tortosemon clone and a Cherrymon clone while Chouzu was trying to fend off six Gizamon clones.

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,” said Chouzu.

“Just hang in there,” said Ankylomon.

Vegeta had to admit that this Venommon was a more formidable opponent than he thought. Never the less, he was enjoying fighting her. It had been years since he had this sort of challenge.

Venommon did not share that feeling. She was annoyed that it was taking her so long to finish off one puny Earthling, or Saiyan, or whatever he was.

Venommon lunged at Vegeta. The Saiyan prince mearly smiled and floated into the air to avoid her, then kicked her in the back.

With a chuckle, Vegeta floated back down to the roof top. “Don’t tell me that’s all you’ve got.”

“Not even close,” hissed Venommon. “Talon Swipe!”

She slashed at Vegeta with her nails, cutting his shoulder.

Vegeta stumbled backward. “Why you...!”

“Acid Needles!” cried Venommon.

Vegeta ducked to avoid the needles of acid that shot from Venommon’s mouth. A second later, his feet were swiped out from under him by Venommon’s tail. By now, Vegeta had ceased to enjoy this fight and was becoming angry.

“Had enough?” asked Venommon.

“Of you,” Vegeta replied. With one quick kick, he sent Venommon sprawling over the edge of the roof top.

Venommon managed to grab the edge of the roof and swing herself back up. But once she was back on the roof she found Vegeta in front of her with both hands out in front of him.

“And now it’s time to end this game,” he said. “I have better things to do. Final Flash!”

A huge light came out of Vegeta’s hands that engulfed Venommon. Within moments, all that was left of the cobra Digimon was her scream echoing off the walls of the other buildings.

Gohan crumpled to the ground after receiving yet another painful blow from his clone. He didn’t know how long he could keep this up. His body was black and blue and even a little bloody.

Before Gohan could get up, Gohan Clone jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground.

“Beg me for mercy, demanded the clone.

“No way,” said Gohan.

“Why? What hope do you have of winning? Do you think that one of your pathetic friends will come to rescue you? Look around. They’re too busy with their own problems to come and help you.”

Gohan looked around him at the different battles his friends were fighting. Each was getting beat up by his or her evil twin. Even his father wasn’t faring well against his clone. The anger within him rose and his power with it.

Gohan had a special power that always surfaced whenever he became enraged. He had used this power to help defeat the evil Radditz, Garlic Junior, and Freeza. Now he was going to unleash it on the clones.

“It’s pointless to fight us,” said Gohan’s clone. “Compared to us you are weak and fragile. If you want a quick and painless death, then beg for it.”

“NEVER!” screamed Gohan.

He placed his hands on Gohan Clone’s chest and released the most intense ki blast he could create. It blew Gohan Clone into the sky and out of sight.

This got the attention of all the other clones and their originals. They stopped what they were doing and looked at the young Saiyan.

Gohan wasn’t finished yet. He turned on Wendigimon Clone and began to use him for a punching bag. The punches and kicks came so fast that it was impossible for the clone to block them. Within moments he was beaten into unconsciousness.

The Angemon, Angewomon, and Gargomon clones also found it hard to fend off Gohan’s attacks. They came too fast and too hard. Gohan threw a punch at Angemon Clone that Angemon Clone tried to block with his staff. But Gohan’s fist broke the staff then plunged into the clone’s gut.

Angewomon fired an arrow at Gohan’s back. Gohan heard it coming, turned, then quickly kicked it aside. With a loud cry, Gohan grabbed Angewomon Clone’s leg and flung her against Angemon Clone. Both went limp and crashed into the sand.

Gargomon Clone aimed his guns at Gohan. “Gargo Pellets!”

Gohan jumped over the oncoming bullets and on his way back down to Earth, he kicked Gargomon in the temple and knocked him out.

Willis Clone forgot about Willis, picked up a stick and ran toward Gohan.

“Gohan, look out!” cried Willis.

With lightning speed, Gohan nailed Willis Clone with an elbow to the gut. From the corners of his eyes, he saw Kari Clone and T.K Clone rushing at him from either side. He flew into the air and let them run into each other. Then, he came back down and swung his elbow across and hit both of them in the face. They collapsed into the sand.

Goku Clone stared at the boy in amazement. “How can he be so strong?”

Goku kicked his twin away from him. “Still confident that you’ll beat us?”

Enraged, Goku Clone punched his original in the stomach. “Yes.” He flew over to Gohan. “Not bad, kid. But now, let’s see how well you do against your old man.”

Gohan frowned. “You’re not my dad. You’re just a sorry impostor.”

Goku Clone laughed. “I may be an impostor, but you’re the one who’s going to be sorry.”

Paildramon was not having the best of luck against Locomon. The evil Ultimate grew stronger with each passing second and nothing Paildramon threw at him seemed to do hurt him at all. But Paildramon knew that he had to keep trying. If he didn’t stop Locomon, than the Earth would be forever plunged into darkness and the Digital World would be next.

“Desperado Blaster!” Paildramon cried.

From a roof top directly below the fight, Davis was watching the battle. He groaned as he watched Locomon knock away all of Paildaramon’s blaster shots as if they were tennis balls. Then, Locomon wrapped his tentacles around Paildramon and slammed him down on the roof right in front of Davis.

“Come on, Paildramon!” cried Davis. “Show that bag of bones what you’re made of!”

“Are you done?” asked Locomon. “I’m bored.”

A voice the fiend did not recognize answered. “Then let me liven things up.”

The next thing Locomon knew, something hit him in the head and nearly knocked him out. Paildramon took advantage of Locomon’s moment of distraction and wriggled out of his tentacles.

It’s payback time, he thought as he grabbed the tentacles and used them to fling Locomon into the wall of another skyscraper.

Davis looked up at Paildramon’s rescuer. “Perfect timing Vegeta. I guess you’re not such a jerk after all.”

“Yeah. Thanks,” said Paildramon.

Vegeta scowled. “I didn’t do that to save your worthless hyde.”

Davis turned away from Vegeta. “Guess I spoke too soon. Uh-oh. Heads up guys! Locomon’s coming back!”

Vegeta flew over to meet his new adversary. “Stay out of this, Paildramon. He’s mine.”

“You wish to take me on by yourself?” asked Locomon. “You’re either very brave, or very stupid.”

“You’re the one who’s stupid, my friend. You have no chance against me.”

“Are you certain of that?”

“Yes. Now, enough talk. Let’s get going.”

Locomon grinned. “Let the battle begin.”

Gohan found out, almost immediately, that Goku’s clone not only had his looks, but strength and fighting style as well. Gohan could barely defend himself against the Saiyan fake.

Kari watched the battle with concern. “We have to do something.”

“Like what?” asked Willis. “Our Digimon can’t digivolve and unless they do, they don’t stand a chance against that clone. Neither do we.”

Goku Clone shot a ki blast at Gohan. But before it reached its target, it was blown off course by another ki blast.

Goku Clone knew at once that the sender was his original. “Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?” He turned in Goku’s direction. “You can’t beat me. I am superior to you.”

“You talk too much,” said Goku.

“And I’ve heard enough,” said Gohan. He kicked the clone in the back.

Goku Clone grabbed Gohan’s foot, but was given a nasty upper cut by Goku before he could do anything else. Gohan only had a few seconds to wriggle out of the clone’s grasp before he struck back.

Down on the ground, Patamon smiled. “With those two fighting together, there’s no way that fake can win.”

And at first, the two Saiyans did well against the clone. They managed to keep him on the defensive until Goku Clone elbowed Gohan in the abdomen and punch Goku in the face.

Lopomon turned to Terriermon. “You thinking what I’m thinking, bro?”

Terriermon nodded. “Let’s do it.”

The twins opened their mouths. “Bunny Blast!”

Thier attacks hit the clone on either side of the back of the rib cage. As Goku Clone turned, Patamon decided to add his two cents in.

“Boom Bubble! Pwa!”

The bubble hit the clone on the forehead. The three attacks didn’t do any major damage, but still, the clone was angry. “Time to get rid of this little detail.” He summoned a ki blast.

Goku called out to Gohan. “Now’s our chance!”

Father and son both summoned a Kamehameha wave and fired it on Goku Clone. It hit the clone in the back and pushed him through the air and out of sight.

“Is that the end of him?” asked Kari.

“No,” said Goku. “I can still feel his energy. He barely survived, but it won’t take him long to build up his strength again and come back.”

“They all will be back on their feet soon,” said a voice.

Goku, Gohan, and the Digi-crew spun around.

“Who said that?” asked Gohan.

A small Digimon with webbed feet came out from behind a rock. “I did.”

T.K., Patamon, Kari, and Gatomon gasped.

“What do you want?” demanded Gatomon.

“To help,” the Digimon replied.

“We don’t need your help,” said T.K.

“Why not?” asked Willis.

“You can’t trust a Scubamon. We learned that the first time we were here. They brought Kari to this awful place so she could free them of the dark spirals. But once they were free, they tried to take her to their home under the ocean.”

“We wanted her to be our queen and help us to overthrow Locomon,” the Scubamon explained. “And now, it appears that you have the same goal. Come with me. I'll help you get out of this place.”

“And how do we know that this isn’t a trick?” asked Patamon.

“You don’t,” the Scubamon replied. “But you don’t have any other choice.”

“He’s right,” said Kari. “and we need to hurry and get back before Locomon destroys Earth.”

“Then, let’s go,” said Goku. “Which way, Scubamon?”

“This way,” said the Scubamon. He walked back behind the rock. Goku followed him, followed by Gohan, Willis, and the twins. T.K., Kari, Gatomon, and Patamon exchanged nervious glances before following their friends.

The Scubamon led them down to the water where twelve other Scubamon were waiting for him. Bobbing up and down behind them were four huge bubbles. As Kari and her friends got closer, she could see that each bubble had three Scubamon tied to it with seaweed ropes.

“Get inside the bubbles,” ordered the Scubamon guide. “There is enough air them to sustain you during the trip.”

Kari looked down at the bubbles and the dark water nervously. “You mean we’re...gulp!..taking a trip under water?! Th-th-that water?”

“You will be perfectly safe,” assured another Scubamon.

Goku walked up to a bubble and began looking for a way to get in it. “Hey, how do you get inside these things?” He put a hand on the side of it. He felt something pull on it and the next thing he knew, he was inside the bubble.

“That’s how,” said one of the three Scubamon that were tied to it.

“And how do we get out?” asked T.K.

“You’ll be able to get out the same way once we’re above water again.”

“Come on,” said Lopomon. “We’re wasting time.”

He, Terriermon, and Willis touched the side of the closest empty bubble and were immediately pulled into it. Gohan got in the bubble between them and Goku. T.K. and Patamon got in the one beside Willis and the twins and Gatomon jumped into the one beside them.

“Kari, are you coming?” she asked.

Kari just stood there trembling on the beach. She wasn’t very anxious about going in that dark ocean. Especially not after the dream she had last night about Locomon almost drowning her it it. She opened her moth to tell Gatomon and the boys to go on without her.

But they might need me, she thought. And, besides, if they’re brave enough to go through with this, then I guess I am too.

She swallowed her fear and summoned every ounce of her courage to step into that shallow water and get into the bubble with Gatomon.

Once Kari was in, the thirteen Scubamon turned and dove under the surface of the water, dragging the bubbles and their occupants with them.

There was no light under the water, not even near the surface. It was impossible for the two Saiyans and the Digi-crew to see where they were and they wondered how the Scubamon would know where they were going. But the darkness didn’t seem to bother the Scubamon they swam through the water like they knew exactly where they were going and how to get there.

Kari’s courage began to shrink as their Scubamon ferry men began to drag the bubbles deeper and deeper into the water.

“Where do you think they’re taking us?” she whispered.

“Back to your world, hopefully,” replied Gatomon. “Or at least back to the Digital World.”

But it didn’t look like they were going to either place. They were just floating along in darkness and in silence other than the few times during the trip when someone called out to the others to make sure they were all still in one area.

Suddenly, Kari felt the sides of the bubble contract as if it was being pulled through something narrow. She gasped. What if the bubble burst? What would happen to her and Gatomon?

But the bubble made it through with out breaking. Kari breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’re almost there,” said a Scubamon.

Kari and Gatomon felt their bubble being pulled upward. It wasn’t long before the bubble broke through the surface of the water. Kari and Gatomon looked around. They were now in some sort of cave. The only light there was, was the light of two large torches burning on the shore. The Scubamon swam over to it. Once they were within a yard of the shore, the Scubamon wriggled out of their harnesses and let the tide carry the bubbles to the shore.

Kari and Gatomon pushed their way out of their bubbles and jumped onto the shore. Kari almost cried. She had never been so happy to be back on dry land.

Goku and the boys quickly got out of their bubbles and joined the girls on the shore.

As soon as he was on dry land, Terriermon noticed what appeared to be a gold perfume bottle sitting on a large rock between the torches. “What is that?”

One of the Scubamon hopped on to the shore. “That is the Digi Egg of Destiny. It was put here just before Locomon was locked away. The one who can unlock its power can open a doorway into the real world and lift the dark powers that keep you from digivolving.”

Goku walked up to the golden egg. “Weirdest looking egg I’ve ever seen. How do you unlock its power?”

He tried to lift it off the rock, but it it wouldn’t budge. He tried to pull it again, but it still wouldn’t budge. Goku tried a third time to lift the egg. This time pulling on it with all of his strength. The egg didn’t come off the stone, but the stone ripped loose of the cave floor.

“You must lift it from the stone and only the chosen Digidestend can do that,” said the Scubamon.

“Oh,” said Goku. He put the stone back down and backed away from it.

“You first, Kari,” said T.K.

Kari steped forward, grabbed the egg and pulled it with all of her might. The egg didn’t move, so Kari backed away from it. “No good.”

T.K. tried next, but he couldn’t lift it either. “I guess the egg is yours Willis.”

Willis blinked in surprise. “Mine? Are you sure?”

“You’re the only other Digidestend left,” Terriermon reminded him.

Willis took a step toward the egg, but before he could take another, the dark water bubbled and eight blobs of clear slime broke through the surface.

“The clones are back! The clones are back!” cried the Scubamon, scrambling on to the shore.

The slime balls cut through the water until they reached the shallows near the shore. Then they became the evil twins of the eight good guys once again.

Goku, Gohan, and the Digimon got ready to fight again.

“How did you find us?” asked T.K.

“Your DNA inside our bodies can make it possible to find you anywhere in this world,” said T.K. Clone.

“There’s nowhere in the World of Darkness you can hide,” added Kari Clone.

“Willis hurry and unlock that egg,” Gohan called over his shoulder.

Gohan Clone laughed. “No egg is going to save you.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Willis. He grabbed the Digi Egg and pulled it off the rock.

A golden glow burst from the egg and filled the cave. The dark clones shrieked and backed away.

“Curse the blasted powers of light!” cried Angewomon Clone.

Lopomon’s eyes lit up. “Hey! I can feel my power starting to grow!”

“Me too,” said Gatomon.

“And me,” said Patamon.

All three Digimon began to glow and change shape. Patamon and Lopomon digivolved into their Champion forms, then they and Gatomon went Ultimate.

The three Ultimates and Gohan charged their clones.

Willis felt a tug at his shorts and looked down to see Terriermon looking up at him with a sad look in his eyes.

“What about me?” he asked.

“Use the Digi-egg to help Terriermon digivolve into his Ultimate form,” said Kari.

“Just like Davis used his Golden Digi-egg to digivolve Veemon into Magnamon,” said T.K. “Remember?”

How could Willis forget? He was right in front of Davis when he did it. Veemon digivolved into Magnamon and then destroyed the virus inside Cocomon.

Willis wasn’t the only one who had heard their words. Goku Clone had heard them too and became determined to stop Willis before he gave the good guys another edge in this battle. He flew over the fighting Digimon and lunged at Willis.

“Willis, look out!” cried Kari.

But before Willis could move or Goku Clone could strike, Goku appeared between them and stopped his twin by grabbing his arm and throwing him down to the ground.

Goku clone got up and wiped the thin trickle of blood from his mouth. “Ready for another pounding?”

“Not this time,” said Goku. He transformed into a Super Saiyan. Now he and his clone were on the same power level. “Let’s get this over with.”

The clone smiled. “Gladly.”

The two hurled themselves at each other and immediately punches began to fly at lightning speed.

Willis, meanwhile, held the Digi Egg just like he’d seen Davis do. “Golden Armor Energize!”

Terriermon’s body lit up and changed shape. “Terriermon Golden Armor digivolve to.... Rapidmon!”

Terriermon was now Rapidmon, a five foot tall rabbit wearing glowing gold armor. Rapidmon glared at Gargomon Clone, who was trembling. He knew he was in for it now.

Vegeta cried out in anger as he flew out of the pile of bricks Paildaramon had buried him under. He had realized soon after the fight had begun that Locomon was not the weakling Vegeta had thought he was.

Still, the great Saiyan prince was not about to let this withered skeleton beat him. He charged at Locomon and began throwing kicks and punches as hard and as fast as he could. Locomon mearly laughed and dodged them all. Vegeta tried to hit him with ki blasts, but Locomon dodged all of them too.

“I believe it is my turn now,” said Locomon. “Nightmare Wave!”

Vegeta made ready to block the attack, but something else blocked it before it could hit him. It was Paildramon. The Ultimate screamed in pain as the wave hit him.

“No! Paildramon!” cried Davis.

Paildramon fell to the ground and de-deigivolved into DemiVeemon and Minimon.

Davis rushed over and scooped both Digimon up in his arms. “Are you guys okay?”

The two little guys moaned in reply.

Locomon laughed. “Well, insects, it’s been loads of fun, but I have to be going. So much to conquer, so little time. He began to float higher into the sky. “Dark Clones, unite with me!”

From all over the city, the Dark Digimon Clones rose up into the sky and floated toward their master.

Down at Capsule Corp, Bulma and Geni watched with anxious looks on their faces.

“What’s happening?” asked Bulma.

“Locomon’s become strong enough to absorb the power of his clones and Digivolve into his Mega form, Psyconomon,” replied Geni. “Beating him now will be next to impossible for your friends.”

Up above, the Z Fighters, Yolei, and Aquilamon had joined Vegeta in the air. Krillin had brought Ken up so he could be with his little partner.

As soon as Ken was on the roof, he took Minimon from Davis and cradled him. “What happened?”

Davis didn’t answer. He was too busy staring up at the sky where the Dark Digimon were transforming into dark clouds and merging into one cloud around Locomon. It was so dark and thick that Davis couldn’t see the evil Digimon at all. Suddenly, a huge pair of red eyes opened in the clouds and Locomon’s cruel laughter blared across the Earth.

“Oh no,” said Aquilamon. “He’s digivolved into Psyconomon.”

“We’re in trouble,” said Ken.

“What makes you think that?” asked Davis. “He’s just a pair of eyes now.”

“Yes, but his power is enormous,” said Tien.

“How are we supposed to beat something like that?” asked Yolei.

“You don’t,” said Psyconomon. “Tempest Explosion!”

The sky lit up with a hundred lightning bolts. Aquilamon was hit by one and screamed in pain. Yolei fell off his back and plunged toward the street.

Cody saw her fall and quickly formed a plan to save her. “I need a boost Ankylomon. Up to that window.”

Ankylomon put his front feet on the side of the building. Cody quickly scrambled through an open window and into the bedroom of an apartment. He tore a sheet off the king sized bed and tied one end to the bed and threw the other end out to Ankylomon. Ankylomon stretched the sheet as far as it would go. A second later, Yolei hit the middle of it.

Back in the air, the Z Fighters were trying to think of a way to bring Psyconomon down. Even though he was only a cloud, he had a very high power level.

“What do we do now?” asked Chouzu.

“We shoot this guy down, that’s what,” said Tien.

“Blast him with evreything you got,” said Piccolo. “It might be our only chance.”

“When did you become in charge of this little operation, Namek?” asked Vegeta.

“Just shut up and do it!”

Everyone hit Psyconomon with their strongest attack, but once they touched Psyconomon, all of them were snuffed out like a candle.

Psyconomon laughed. “That tickles!”

Yamcha turned to his friends. “Okay. What’s plan B?”

The Willis and T.K. clones sadly watched as their Champion Digimon were being pounded by Rapidmon, Magna Angemon, and Anthylamon. Lopomon’s Ultimate form.

“This is depressing,” mumbled T.K. Clone.

Kari Clone pulled her digivice out of her pocket. “See this? You two have devices just like it. Use it to bring you Digimon up the the Ultimate level. Honestly! Must I think of everything for you?”

“Shut up,” said Willis Clone as he pulled out his digivice.

Suddenly, the three clones felt themselves being tackled to the cave floor and their digivices being snatched away.

Kari Clone managed to turn her head and see her counterpart sitting on top of her. “You!”

“Yes,” said Kari. And with that, she quickly got off her clone and pushed her into the water.

T.K. and Willis did the same. The Scubamon dove under water and held the clones under.

“Quick,” said T.K. “Destroy their digivices before they can get back.” He put his clone’s device on the ground and stomped on it over and over until the case was crushed and the parts were scattered all over the floor. Kari and Willis disposed of their dark devices the same way.

Goku, Gohan, and Angewomon were not having the same luck as the others were. They were evenly matched with their clones and so far, their battles were in a stalemate.

Anthylamon knocked Wendigimon Clone into the water and looked over his shoulder at the fights between the Saiyans, Angewomon, and their clones. “Doesn't look like those battles are going to end anytime soon.”

“But this can’t go on much longer,” said Rapidmon. “We need to hurry and get back to Earth.”

Magna Angemon picked up Angemon Clone and flew toward the other fighting clones. “Follow me.”

Anthylamon and Rapidmon shrugged, picked up their near lifeless clones, and followed Magna Angemon. Magna Angemon flew directly above Gohan Clone and dropped Angemon Clone on his head. Both Clones fell in the water. Anthylamon dropped Wendigimon Clone on Goku Clone and Angewomon Clone. The larger clone was big enough and heavy enough to push both smaller clones under water. Rapidmon tossed Gargomon Clone on top of Gohan Clone and Angemon Clone.

“I say we get rid of them right here and now,” said Magna Angemon. “Gate of Destiny!”

Magna Angemon drew a circle in the air with his sword. The circle became a round, golden gate. The gate opened and all nine clones were sucked out of the water and into to the air. Eight went into the gate without incident. Goku Clone managed to fight to suction long enough to come up with a plan to stay alive. He grabbed the closest person to him, which was Gohan, and pulled him into the suction.

“No! Gohan!” cried T.K.

“Tell your angel buddy to shut this thing off, or this kid is going down with me.”

Rapidmon had a different plan of action. “Rapid Fire!” Two missiles shot out of the canons one his hands and shot Goku Clone in the back.

The clone cried out in pain and let go of Gohan. Gohan quickly flew to safety and Goku Clone was sucked into the gate. Once he was in, the gate closed and disintegrated.

“What happened to them?” asked Gohan.

“They are no more,” said Magna Angemon. When the gate disintegrated, so did they.”

“We’d better get back to Earth before it’s gone forever, too,” said T.K.

The Scubamon popped up out of the water.

“Rapidmon,” said one, “blast a hole in the side of the cave. It will open a door to your world.”

Rapidmon aimed his cannons at the wall. “Rapid Fire!” Two missiles shot from the cannons and blasted a hole in the side of the cave. Like the Scubamon said, a golden rimmed doorway appeared in the side of the wall.

“Now hurry,” said the Scubamon.

Kari patted the little Scubamon on the head. “Thank you. All of you. For evreything.”

Things were looking bad for the warriors battling Psyconomon. Aquilamon, and Ankylomon were reduced to their In-Training forms. All four Digidestend had gathered on a roof top and were watching the fight. The Z Fighters were exhausted and about ready to drop. Even Vegeta had to admit that this guy was too much for him to handle.

“Give up, you weaklings,” said Psyconomon. “I have won.”

“Not while we have the strength to fight,” said Tien.

“Why do you persist? Are you so stubborn that you are blind to the obvious? This planet is mine! As all others will soon be. You are nothing to me now but a thorn in my side. One which I will tend to right now!”

A bright light burst in the sky which made everyone stop and look at it.

“What is that?” asked Yolei.

A second later a five foot tall golden rabbit flew out of the hole. The Digidestend assumed that it was a digivolved form of Terriermon because it was carrying Willis.

The next to pop out was Anthylamon. Because he couldn’t fly, he fell from the sky and landed on (and nearly flattened) the ZTV television station. He was followed by Magna Angemon, who carried T.K., and Angewomon, who was carrying Kari. Goku and Gohan flew out next and as soon as they were out, the light disappeared.

“No!” cried Psyconomon. “This isn’t possible!”

Kari pointed to the evil red eyes. “Is that Locomon?”

“That was Locomon,” said Angewomon. “Looks like he’s gained enough strength to digivolve into his Mega form, Psyconomon.”

Krillin and Piccolo flew up to Goku and Gohan.

“Glad to have you back, guys,” said Krillin. “But I’m not sure if you can help much.”

“Nothing we throw at him does any damage,” said Piccolo. “It’s like hitting thin air.”

Oh great, thought Goku. If none of his friends’ attacks made a dent in Psyconomon, he didn’t think it was safe to bet that any of his or Gohan’s would be enough to destroy him.

Except, maybe, one.

“Keep him occupied for as long as you can,” Goku said. “I’m going to try and take him out with the Spirit Bomb.”

The Spirit Bomb was, perhaps, Goku’s deadliest move. It was a ki blast made from a little life energy from every one and every living thing on Earth. The problem was that it took a long time to gather up the energy and the forces defending Earth from Locomon didn’t have a moment to spare. But it might be their only hope.

“You can count on us,” said Gohan.

Rapidmon, Angewomon, and Magna Angemon put their partners down on the roof top with the other Digidestend.

“Be careful,” said Kari, as she watched them fly off to battle.

“Hey!” said Poromon. “What’s Goku doing?”

All eleven Digidestend and Digimon turned to their right where Goku was floating down to another flat roofed building just a stone throw away from them.

“Hey, man!” called Davis. “The battle’s up there!”

Goku was so focused on what he was about to do that he didn’t hear him. He landed on the roof top and raised both hands to the sky. “To every living being on this planet! I beg of you! Spare some of your energy for me and every other living thing on Earth. Please give me your power!

“Guys, I think he’s lost it,” said DemiVeemon.

Meanwhile, the battle above began again. Anthylamon fired off his special attack, but it just went right through Psyconomon just as the others’ had.

“Tempest Explosion!” cried Psyconomon.

The powerful attack struck poor Anthylamon and almost immediately reduced him to his In-Training form, Cocomon. Cocomon slipped off the roof and plunged to the ground. He would have splattered on the sidewalk if Gohan hadn’t swooped under him and caught him.

“Are you all right?”Gohan asked.

“I think so,” whispered Cocomon. “Watch out!”

Gohan veered left to avoid a bolt of lightning. He picked up his speed and safely delivered Cocomon to Willis.

The minutes dragged by as the Z Fighters-minus Goku-Angewomon, Magna Angemon, and Rapidmon tried to delay Psyconomon from completely taking over until the Spirit Bomb was ready. During the fight, each warrior’s body took several nasty beatings from Psyconomon’s attacks. After an hour, Rapidmon was hit by Psyconomon’s Sinister Cyclone attack and was reduced down to Gummymon, his In-Training form.

T.K. kicked at the edge of the roof. “I can’t just stand here and watch this!”

“Me neither,” said Davis. “There’s got to be something we can do.”

“Like what?” asked Yolei. “He’s just too powerful.”

“Ken, look over there!” cried Minimon. “What’s that glowing ball Goku is holding?”

“I... I don’t know,” said Ken.

The other Digimon and Digidestend turned their heads to see what Ken and Minimon were talking about.

Goku held the completed Spirit Bomb in both hands as he looked for a place to aim it. Where could he? It was impossible to tell where Psyconomon’s weak spot was, if he even had one. But Goku knew he had to try. He couldn’t let this world fall to Psyconomon. So many people were counting on him. He could feel their hope in the glowing Spirit Bomb he held. Even though the world was now in darkness, people still had lights burning in their hearts.

Wait a minute! Hope? Light? Goku shot a glance at T.K. and Kari on the roof top next to him and remembered the prophecy Geni had told them. “When the darkness returns and covers the world, the power of light and hope will be placed in the hands of the chosen children and the Digimon will rise above the power of Ultimate and crush its power forever.” Maybe it wasn’t in his power to save the world this time. He quickly came up with a plan and prayed to God that it would work.

“T.K., Kari! Hold out your digivices!”

T.K. and Kari looked at each other with questioning looks on their faces. Then, with a shrug, they held up their digivices.

“Please let this work! Goku silently prayed. Then he threw the Spirit Bomb at the kids.

“Dad!” cried Gohan “What are you doing?!”

“You fool!” cried Piccolo. “You’ll kill them!”

The other Z Fighters gasped in horror and waited for the Spirit Bomb to incinerate the two kids. But instead, the energy ball broke into two and was absorbed into the two digivices!

Kari and T.K. watched in amazement as their digivices changed from pink and white and green and white to gold. This is the hope and light from every person in the whole world, they realized. And they were chosen to use it against Psyconomon.

Magna Angemon and Angewomon realized this too. They flew down to their two friends and landed right in front of them.

“Whenever you’re ready,” said Magna Angemon.

T.K. and Kari pointed their digivices at their Digimon. “Digivolve!”

“Magna Angemon digivolve to..... Seraphimon!”

“Angewomon digivolve to...... Megnadramon!”

Psyconomon looked down at the two Megas with horror in his big red eyes. “No! This can’t be!”

“Ready to give up?” asked Seraphimon.

“Never! I’ll defeat you yet! Sinister Cyclone!“

A huge, dark tornado apeared out of nowhere and spun toward Megnadramon and Seraphimon.

“Fire Tornado!” cried Megnadramon. A pink tornado shot out of her mouth and canceled Psyconomon’s dark one.

Psyconomon tried a different attack. “Tempest Explosion!”

Hundreds of lightning bolts came down from his cloudy being. Megnadramon and Seraphimon tried to avoid them, but couldn’t without running into another. So each was struck by lightning multiple times. Psyconomon laughed, but his laughter was cut short when he saw that his adversaries were all right.

Now, it was Megnadramon and Seraphimon’s turn to attack.

“Dragon Fire!” cried Megnadramon.

“Hallowed Knuckle!” cried Seraphimon

They hit Psyconomon right above the eyes. Their attacks made a hole in the cloud formation and caused Psyconomon to cry out in pain. But soon, the wound sealed up and Psyconomon went from pain to anger.

“This won’t work,” whispered Seraphimon. “Any damage we do to him will just heal in an instant.”

“Then maybe we need to try firing on him from inside,” said Megnadramon. “That’s where his weakness might be.”

“It’s worth a try, but how are we to get inside that thing?”

“Guess we could try and fly in.”

But that didn’t work. When Psyconomon saw them coming, he released another Tempest Explosion.

“Make and entrance way,” ordered Seraphimon. “Hallowed Knuckle!”

“Dragon Fire!” cried Megnadramon.

They blew a hole in Psyconomon’s side and flew in before it healed.

Nothing could have prepared either of them for what they saw inside the monster. He was a maze of tunnels that looked like nerves made of clouds. Floating along the sides of these tunnels were what looked like chalk outlines of the clones Locomon had absorbed.

“What are these things?” asked Megnadramon. “Clone ghosts?”

“Megnadramon,” said Seraphimon. “If the 'ghost’ of every clone Locomon absorbed is here, wouldn’t it be safe to assume that there's one of Locomon as well?”

“Could be. If we take that one out, the whole structure may fall apart.”

Laughter echoed all throughout the cloud. “Even from inside you won’t defeat me. You two are simply germs to me.” The ghosts turned toward the Megas. “And my little friends here are the antibodies.”

The ghosts attacked Seraphimon and Megandramon. Each would have been easy to defeat alone, but in a pack of a hundred or so, they were a challenge.

But it wasn’t impossible. Seraphimon and Megnadramon fought their way through the tunnels like a salmon fighting his way upstream. When reinforcements came in from behind them, the two Megas ducked under their attackers in front and let the two armies collide.

Seraphimon and Megnadramon broke through the chaos and found themselves in what looked like a large room. There were ghosts in floating around the walls, just like in the tunnels. And before they came to attack them, the Megas saw a column of green lightning stretching from the ceiling to the floor. In the middle of this was a ghost that looked like Locomon with his arms outstretched.

“I think we’ve found our brain,” said Megnadramon.

“Blast it with evreything you’ve got,” said Seraphimon. “Hallowed Knuckle!

“Fire Tornado!” cried Megnadramon.

The enormous power of their attacks disintegrated every ghost in their path until it came to its main target.

“NOOOO!” screamed the Locomon ghost.

“What’s going on in there?” asked Yamcha. “The cloud hasn’t done anything since those two went in there.”

“Do you think we go in after them?” asked Gohan.

“Let’s wait a little longer,” said Goku.

Suddenly, Psyconomon gave a loud cry like he was in unbearable pain. A second later, he exploded into a million specks of golden flakes that began falling to Earth. They landed on the buildings that were damaged or destroyed during the battle and restored them. They landed on the people that were hurt in the battle and healed them.

“Oh man,” said Yamcha as he felt his wounds healing. “This stuff heals better than the senzu beans.”

But T.K. and Kari didn’t notice the flakes of golden snow or see its rejuvenation powers at work. They were busy scanning the sky for their friends.

“Megnadramon!” cried Kari.

“Seraphimon!” cried T.K.

It was then that the other Digidestend, Digimon, and Z Fighters noticed that the two Megas were nowhere in sight.

“You don’t think that they’re....gone?” asked Tien.

“No!” cried Yolei.

Willis closed his eyes. “If they have made the ultimate sacrifice, it won’t be for nothing. Psyconomon is gone forever thanks to them.”

Vegeta surprised everyone with his coment. “They fought like true warriors and deserved a warrior’s death.”

There was several minutes of silence before Chouzu pointed to the sky and said “What’s that up there?”

Everyone looked up to where he was pointing. Something else was floating down to Earth besides the gold dust. It was two small creatures-one that looked like a white pig with long ears, and another that looked like a green ball with a face, cat ears and a raccoon tail.

“T.K.!” cried the pig.

“Kari!” cried the cat.

“Are they what I think they are?” asked Gohan.

DemiVeemon nodded. “They’re Tokomon and Nearamon, Patamon and Gatomon’s In-Training forms.”

The two little Digimon floated into the waiting arms of their partners. T.K. and Kari laughed with delight and hugged them tightly.

The world was still trying to make sense of the mess that had happened the day after it was all over. No one could explain what the mysterious monsters were or where they had come from or how all the damage they had caused was suddenly fixed when that big storm cloud left.

Well, almost no one. Those who did know what happened were gathered in the back yard of Capsule Corp getting ready for a huge barbecue to celebrate the defeat of Psyconomon. All of the Z Fighters were there along with the entire Briefs family, ChiChi and her father, the Ox King, Master Roshi, Oolong the talking pig, and Puar, Yamcha’s talking cat friend.

The Digidestend also showed up with the members of their families who knew about Digimon and the Digital World. Also attending were the older members of the Digidestend Team-Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Joe, and MImi-who had saved both worlds four years before. The six older kids were delighted when Geni brought their Digimon partners-Agumon, Gabumon, Byomon, Tentomon, Gomomon, and Palamon-from the Digital World. Mimi also brought her friend Michael, an American Digidestend, and his partner Betamon to the party.

“Wow!” cried Bulma, looking at all the guests. “I hope we have enough food.”

“We won’t have any food at all unless I can get these coals lit,” said Dr. Briefs.

He lit a match and stuck and tried to light the coals inside his barbecue, but they wouldn’t light and soon, the match went out.

“Would you like some help?” asked Agumon.

“Please,” said Dr. Briefs.

Tai smiled. “Better stand back.”

Dr. Briefs took several steps back as Agumon took a deep breath.

“Pepper Breath!” he cried. A basketball size fireball shot from his mouth and into the barbecue.

A tall column of fire shot up from the coals. Dr. Briefs gasped and stumbled several feet backwards.

“Hope everyone likes their meat well done,” laughed Gomomon.

Bulma giggled and began to set some more plates on the picnic table. But then, she noticed Vegeta walking away from the crowd and over the the gravity simulator. She put down the plates and a rushed after her husband. She caught up with him just as he was about to go in the simulator.

“You’re not going to join the party?” she asked him.

Vegeta looked back at her. “No. I have training to do.”

“You’re really determined to surpass Goku aren’t you?” Vegeta didn’t answer her. “I wonder if your bull headedness is something our children will inherit.”

Vegeta grunted. “If we ever have any children...”

Bulma interrupted him. “We have one started right now.”

Vegeta froze. “What?”

“You heard me. I’ve been trying to tell you that for weeks now. I just hope you can take time out of your quest to become a Super Saiyan long enough to be a proper father to our son.”

“Son?”

“Yes. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a boy. I’ve been thinking about what to call him. How does the name Trunks sound to you?”

Vegeta quickly turned away from Bulma and climbed into the simulator. He was too proud to show her the emotions that were flooding through him at that moment. “I have some training to do.”

As he shut the door, he heard Bulma cry out “Well fine! Be that way!”

Vegeta walked over to the control panel and turned on the machine. But his mind wasn’t focused on his workout. He was still surprised at Bulma’s news. He found it unbelievable that he would soon be a father.

But as the shock wore off, Vegeta began to think of what kind of father he would be. His son would have the royal blood of the Saiyan monarchy, so it would only be fitting that the boy should be a warrior. One his ancestors would be proud of. Vegeta would train him to become that warrior and together they would be the mightiest father/son duo the universe had ever seen.

As the food was being passed around and served, the Z Fighters and the younger team of Digidestend shared the story of their fight with Locomon and his minions.

“Wow!” said Michael. “That was some fight. Wish we could have been here to help out.”

“They sound like they did pretty well without us,” said Betamon.

“I’m just glad you were able to defeat those clones,” said Master Roshi. “An evil Goku or Gohan is worse than ten Locomons.”

“Hey, maybe you should have taken Vegeta with you,” said Yamcha.

“Why?” asked T.K. “We’d just have another clone to fight.”

“Not if the clone was the exact opposite of Vegeta. Then you could leave the real one there, bring back the clone and we’d have a kinder, more agreeable Vegeta to deal with instead of a total jerk.”

“That’s not funny,” said Gohan.

“Speaking of Vegeta,” said Willis, “does anyone know were he is? I haven’t seen him at the party.”

“He’s busy training,” said Bulma. “Honestly! Can’t he relax for just one minute?”

“He has a good reason for wanting to train so much,” said Piccolo. “I’ll be getting back to mine in a little while.”

“Why?” asked Sora. “The party’s barely gotten started.”

“Locomon maybe gone, but the Earth is still in danger.”

“Oh yeah,” said Goku. “In all the excitement, I’d nearly forgotten about the androids.”

“What androids?” asked Cody.

Piccolo told the Digidestend and their families about that day, two years ago when a young Saiyan from the future came to warn the Z Fighters of the arrival of two killer androids that would kill off almost all of the Earth’s special forces.

Yolei gulped. “Including us?”

“I don’t know,” said Piccolo. “You weren’t mentioned.”

“All of us have been training hard so we can be strong enough to beat the Androids when they attack next year,” said Gohan.

“We’ll help,” said Davis. “With Locomon gone, the Digital World is safe, so we’ll have lots of time to train with you guys and be ready to flatten those Androids.”

“What about Arukenymon and Mummymon?” asked Ken. “The Digiworld isn’t safe until we’ve defeated them.”

“And there is another enemy threatening the Digiworld that’s even more powerful than them or Psyconomon,” said Geni. “And I’m afraid that you don’t have a year to prepare for his attack.”

Everyone at the table fell scilent. Like weeds, a new form of evil always seemed to spring up right after the one before it had been pulled. Each new weed was more stubborn and stronger than the last. Would the darkness ever be defeated?

Completed July 2001