Biomerging had gone smoothly, and would be much faster than trying to navigate the crater-covered Tokyo roads. BanchoLeomon leapt from ruined tower to tower - business offices, apartments, a hospital. MirageGaogamon had done a good job clearing people out of the paths of destruction - while he still couldn’t count the number of corpses on both hands, there were still far fewer dead than there should’ve been. Than Takeda probably would’ve planned for. Seriously, fuck that guy. Finally moving past the bulk of the destruction, BanchoLeomon caught sight of a familiar gigantic figure in the distance. A burst of speed and a few moments later, he touched down next to Examon, raising an eyebrow at the strange figure he was talking to before shrugging it off and presenting an emptied pistol. “It’s done. Lucas put two bullets in his brain. And didn’t learn anything that we didn’t already assume. Just some ultranationalist nutjob that was trying to harness Digimon for profit.” He spat on the ground. “Dirk died for that. Stupid bastard...if he’d just stayed home, this would have been over by now.” He shook his head sadly. With Dorugoramon slumped forwards onto him, Examon first carefully moved into a crouch as he lowered the smaller dragon to rest on the ground, before he offered his friend a nod that was somewhere between relieved and weary. Before he could open his mouth to talk, however, the earth rumbled as waves emanated from the harbor. An unearthly howl roared from the depths of the water as BanchoLeomon whirled around, snarling. “Oh, what now?!” --- Millenniummon was no more. Rodendramon had begun the ascent towards the surface of the water. Jordan breached the surface, shaking the water from his hair. A Chrysalimon lowered a towel to him from its perch high on the wall and informed him in its typical monotone voice that the prisoner was refusing to talk, would he like to deal with her personally? She kept asking for him anyways. He grinned, opened the door- Dukemon stood there, lance aimed at his head - it was time to finally punish the boy for the crimes he had committed against the Digital World. His assistance against Imperialdramon and Parasimon did nothing to mitigate his crimes, and with the final Digimon to threaten the world put to rest, there was only one threat left to deal with. Shrewmon was trying to push past, begging him to run as Dukemon's shield began to glow. The light threatened to burn Jordan's eyes, but he couldn't run, no. He turned away from the light- Lucas was looking at him like he’d lost his mind. He shook his head, muttering that the younger teen needed to stop spacing out so damn much, and then asked again what his thoughts were about going back to the Digital World to finish clean-up. The others chatted quietly, their knightly partners discussing replacing their fallen ex-comrades or dissolving the Royal Knights altogether. Jordan closed his eyes, just for a moment to think- He opened them. Suichi stared at him in horror, Liamon's muscles tense and the digimon clearly unsure of how to act. Stammering, how could he. How could he do this? They'll help him though, they just need him to let them help. Jordan shook his head- A different team of humans and digimon. Each stared at him with nothing short of pure hatred, the digimon at their Mega stages and flexing their claws to fight. He could feel Shrewmon behind him - reluctant, but unwilling to abandon. Not when Jordan's own students threatened to tear him apart. He braced himself as they lunged forth- The hooded digimon's claws sunk in, tore open his stomach. He didn't die. The digimon jerked his claws upwards - did he really think he was ever special or worth anything? He didn't die. No, and Jordan was lucky he was feeling generous; he could be far, far worse, he mused as the ribs snapped apart. Jordan lowered his head- He raised his head from his desk, feeling the paper peel away from his forehead. Shrewmon chuckled - of course Jordan had fallen asleep at his desk. When closing time had passed and Jordan still hadn't come home, he had to come check. Good thing one of his friends was also working - or maybe drinking - a bit late and had been fine letting Shrewmon in to check on Jordan and make sure he was fine. [i]What was going on?[/i] --- [i]Millenniummon’s parts dissolved into the water, mixed the data particles with the real world molecules, slipping through each other like wind in a cracked foundation. The water and the digimon had done much to tear the threat to reality to particles. The particles floated in the water, scattered to the ends of the earth. Not even a handful remained. That was enough. The particles began reconnecting, linearly, hexagonally, deliberately, growing into a seed. Millenniummon could not be done yet. There was so much left to do. The seed grew, the structure grew. It collapsed, sprang anew even tighter before the water currents and gravity could scatter it apart. Growing slowly, growing larger, assembling behind the departing Mega-level. It was still invisible even on a microscopic level. Millenniummon was gone. Millenniummon remained. The crystal solidified. And from its core, a wave pulsed outward. Rodendramon froze, halfway to the surface. The crystal paid him no mind. Millenniummon did not care. Threat level was minimal. It could be contained. The crystal grew. The macroscopic level reached and it did not relent. Hexagons grew lean and jagged, their organized structures collapsing upon themselves in favor of speed. Linear expansion shot out, faster than even the crystal could form, pulling water together until the crystal could take its place- Rodendramon burst through the surface of the bay, a chunk of blue crystal lodged through his lower jaw, his eyes still unseeing. UlforceVeedramon, who had yet to depart, heard the sound and recoiled at the sight of the digimon who had been working alongside them. Even worse, he still breathed. His form shimmered before pulling back together, the crystal still visible. UlforceVeedramon prepared to shoot down and break the earthen warrior free before going to re-gather the others. The plan had worked, he’d seen it. This wasn’t his fault; there was a factor clearly none of them had known about. No way the others would have left if anyone had an inkling there was something now waiting down in the inky water for them- Duftmon had done much to improve the speed of his thinking. Duftmon had not done the same for his reflexes. [b]“MILLENNIUMMON EVOLVE.” “MOON=MILLENNIUMON.”[/b] The water in the harbor shot up in a torrent, enveloping UlforceVeedramon in midair before dragging him down towards the bay with the force of gravity. From the water emerged a massive crystal, a speck of red glowing from inside. An outline of twin dragon heads glared balefully from inside, promising death on all it gazed upon.[/i] --- Far out at the docks, Parasimon first froze as UlforceVeedramon was sucked down into the bay by the erupting pillar of water, before he shot bolt upright at the sight of the structure rising from the mist and spray. He called his lance back into his hands as he prepared to fight- But as the crystal became fully visible floating over the waters of the bay, his many eyes clouded over at the very sight of it. His head filling with screaming voices, he blinked and looked down at the scene before him. Almost a hundred dead at his own hands, whilst the survivors cowered before him, one more attempted uprising put to rest. Not for the first time in the last few days, he began to feel sick, but it seemed to do nothing to affect him; Susanoomon merely floated over the battered, broken army, the winds howling and screaming around him as all thought was drowned out by the voices and the thought of upholding Yggdrasil’s will. Further away yet, miles from the bay and what rose from the depths, a dark mist began to rise from the ground- and outside that mist, it was as if the world had stopped moving altogether. The smoke from the earlier destruction stopped moving through the air and held its shape like a great nebula, the ocean’s waters stood as still as if they’d been frozen through, and fleeing civilians seemed like dolls stuck in place. Over the ocean, the mist was a dusky red, whilst over the land to the north, the mist was dark grey. And soon, within the space enveloped by it, the air was filled with a deafening roar of accelerating winds as the two mists began to twine around each-other.