The scene shifts.
Behind them, the rainbow-hued gateway of data slowly dissolved.
Eight kids and their partner Digimon stepped once more onto the soil of the Digital World.
But what met them wasn't familiar sunshine or green fields.
All around lay a dead-gray fog with less than three meters of visibility, the air reeking like rusted metal mixed with wet earth.
Underfoot, the ground was cracked and barren—nothing grew.
"Where… are we?" Tai scanned the haze, one hand clenched on his Digivice.
"It feels… suffocating," Sora murmured, hugging herself as Biyomon pressed nervously to her leg.
Suddenly—
A pressure so vast it felt like the sky itself collapsed came crashing down.
"Look out!" Matt shouted.
Through the fog, something huge flashed by at impossible speed, the wind it kicked up stinging their eyes.
No time to react.
A golden beam of energy ripped the mist apart, screaming toward them with annihilating force.
"MetalSeadramon!" Izzy's laptop snapped open; readouts flared—and his warning drowned beneath the blast.
"Biyomon, digivolve!" Sora thrust up her Digivice.
"Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon!"
The flaming great bird barely unfurled her wings to take off—
The beam was too fast. Too wide.
BOOM!
"River of Power" struck true.
A piercing bird-cry split the wastes; wings of flame shattered in the gold glare. Birdramon—and the just-emerged Garudamon—were both swatted from the sky by that single, devastating shot, smashing into the ground in a thunder of dust.
[Pokémon World]
"Whoa!" Ash jolted out of his chair. "What was that?!"
"So unfair—they just arrived! They weren't even standing yet!" Misty's cheeks flushed with anger, fists clenched.
"That's not a friendly battle," Brock said, grim. "That was meant to kill."
Professor Oak watched the energy index spike crimson on his screen, brows knitting. "Terrifying output… that Birdramon didn't last even a second."
[Tamers World]
"They'll die…" Takato clutched Guilmon, trembling.
"Takato… I feel it," Guilmon whispered. "They really want to kill them."
Rika's face went pale; her fingers dug into her card case. "Four… no—more."
"In the mist—nothing but Ultimate-level signals everywhere. It's a trap—a kill box."
…
On the field, the kids hadn't even recovered from Garudamon being one-shot when a new sound scraped out of the fog: heavy, tooth-grinding metal on metal.
Two enormous gun-barrels, glowing with ominous red, slid into view.
"Machinedramon!" Izzy cried again, despairing.
"Infinity Cannon!"
No banter. No warning.
The cold machine-voice fell—and an endless squall of energy shells poured down like the end of the world toward the children.
"Matt!" Tai yelled.
"Don't need you to tell me!" Matt's eyes burned. "Gabumon—Mega!"*
"Gabumon warp-digivolve to… WereGarurumon!"
The armored wolf-warrior vaulted in front of the group, crossing his arms and roaring into the firestorm.
"Wolf Claw!"
Blue-white slashes of heat smashed into the shell-rain—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions stitched the ground into a single sheet of flame.
Against the infinite barrage, WereGarurumon's attack was a candle in a hurricane.
He lasted less than three seconds.
The blast front ripped him off his feet, tumbling him a dozen times across the dirt before he slammed into a boulder—armor spiderwebbed with cracks.
[Data Squad/Savers World]
"Get up! You useless lug!" Marcus slammed a fist on the table; the table groaned. "You get knocked down, you hit back twice as hard! That's how real fighters do it!"
Agumon S. windmilled his claws, hyped. "Yeah! Boss is right!"
In the corner, Gallantmon and Alphamon stood silent.
"The gap is too wide," Gallantmon said low. "The enemy are battle-seasoned Ultimates. That WereGarurumon only just evolved—he can't even control that power yet."
Craniamon added, "And the enemy's attacks are chained with no gaps. This is a planned execution."
[Digimon Adventure 02 World]
"Cowards!" Davis stomped. "Four-on-one? Fight fair!"
Veemon hopped, equally incensed. "Yeah—come out and 1v1!"
Ken, though, was ghost-pale. His hand drifted to the back of his neck—remembering.
"Not four…" His voice shook. "This feeling… like when I was the Digimon Emperor. Pure malice. Everything a toy in someone's hands…"
BlackWarGreymon silently watched the screen, gold eyes reflecting WereGarurumon's struggle.
High above, Azulongmon's grave rumble rolled: "From the first moment, fate cast them into a no-exit trial."
…
WereGarurumon staggered up. Nearby, Garudamon pushed herself upright.
Then—both Ultimates froze.
"Huh?" WereGarurumon's arm lifted against his will, claws leveling… at Garudamon.
"Garudamon, you—?"
She, too, locked into a strike stance, her cutting wings angling at him. "It's not me! My body… won't move!"
"What's happening?!" Matt and Sora shouted together.
A childlike giggle—innocent and venomous—twanged through the fog.
"Heeheehee… my little marionettes—showtime!"
They turned.
A red-capped, long-nosed wooden puppet Digimon lounged on a rock, legs swinging, fingers trailed by nearly invisible threads.
Puppetmon.
"Stop it!" Tai roared.
Puppetmon only stuck out his tongue. "Oops—curtain's up."
He twitched a finger.
"Aaaah!"
WereGarurumon and Garudamon howled, bodies jerking into full-speed charges—straight at each other.
Claw against wing. Flame screeching on armor.
They were fully conscious—and helpless—watching their own limbs unleash killing blows on their dearest allies.
The kids' cries and screams were Puppetmon's sweetest music.
"Enough. That's enough," he yawned, already bored.
A hard yank on his lines wrenched the two Ultimates to his feet.
He hefted the great hammer on his back. "Puppet Pummel!"
THUD.
A single sickening blow.
Before the kids' horrified eyes, the two Ultimates burst into data—and when the light fell away, only battered Gabumon and Biyomon remained, unconscious on the dirt.
[Digimon Frontier World]
"Bastard!" Takuya smashed a fist into the wall, skin flushing red. "Making partners kill each other—what kind of monster—"
Kouji's face was iron. "Stealing a warrior's body and will… it's the cruelest insult."
Zoe turned away, eyes wet. "They must be hurting so much…"
[Digimon Adventure: 2020 (Reboot)]
The other Tai and Agumon stared, stunned.
"The us in that world…!"
Mimi clapped a hand over her mouth, tears brimming. "Palmon… Biyomon…"
T.K. gripped Angemon's hand tight.
Angemon's gaze fell, grave and pained. "Such darkness… potent—and gleeful."
…
In minutes, the fight had become a rout.
Two of the team's strongest Ultimates were gone.
The others could only clutch their Rookie and In-Training partners, press back-to-back, and glare into the fog with terrified, furious eyes.
A slow, mocking clap echoed.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
A figure minced out of the mist with a jaunty, crooked dance.
A gaudy jester's suit. Painted face. A grin too wide to be human.
Piedmon.
He swept them a courtly bow. "Bravo. Truly… bravo."
Theatrical lilt; a voice that chilled the bone. "A heartbreakingly beautiful tragedy, don't you think?"
He drank in their tear-streaked, fear-strangled faces and smiled like a connoisseur.
"Oh, right—every play deserves a title."
"This one shall be called The Chosen Children's Last Act. How does that suit you?"
He spread his arms like a narrator pronouncing the end.
"And I, most honored of all, shall perform your final scene."
The kids froze—even breathing stopped.
A terror that rose from the soul itself—the kind reserved for a sovereign evil that could not be resisted.
[Cyber Sleuth World]
Kyoko's cup halted midair; the steam blurred her usually placid features. "…It's over."
Nokia collapsed onto the sofa, blood drained from her face. "No… Agumon… they'll die…"
Arata's fingers hammered his keys; code blurred, then flatlined into red warnings.
"No effect—the dark-tier is too high. It's like an 'absolute field'—rule pollution. Data-layer interference won't penetrate."
"They're… on their own."
[Adventure Prime World]
"Ahahahahahaha!" The shrill laugh knifed around the dark room.
Myotismon lounged in a lavish chair, swirling his goblet, rapture unhidden. "Exquisite. Exquisite!"
"Look at their faces—pure despair, ground under heel like ants. That is their proper station!"
DemiDevimon swooped in manic loops. "They're finished! Totally finished! Tai! Matt! You pests are done! Hahaha!"
Across the room, eight older silhouettes—future selves—stared in silence.
Joe's glasses slid down his nose; he didn't notice.
Mimi bit her lip raw to dam the sob.
Sora trembled.
Izzy's hands sagged off the keyboard.
T.K. and Kari watched their past selves cower behind their brothers, eyes brimming.
Matt stood rigid, fists bloodless white, eyes locked on the fallen Gabumon—wordless.
Tai's pupils knifed tight. He stared at that other boy named Taichi "Tai" Yagami… at a face stripped of courage and hope, left only with bottomless, paralyzing fear.
Like his very soul had been pulled out.
And in that instant—he felt it, as if it were his own.
(End of Chapter)
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