One horrific vision upon another dragged Zei and Dorumon further away from the grip of reality into the calm sea of silence and despair. Each vision brought with it an outcome of emotional agony, crushing loneliness or agonizing death with not even a speck of respite in sight. Like phantom hands, they appear out of nowhere, wrapped themselves around the steel throat and slowly pulled the air out of her and, with that, the fight that was slowly leaving her being. Where was the woman whose eyes burned with silent, cold fury over the loss of one of her own and the guilt over the role she had played in the past? Where was the beast that had withheld untold resentment and rage against the heavens for being relegated to the role of a mask, a false front of another being? They were drowning. They were being wiped out; not by blade or fire, but by nightmares that were eating away at everything they were and sinking them into the abyss. Their rage was being extinguished, their spirits were being suffocated, and their already shaky sanity were being eroded in the worst possible way. Their roars of fury were silenced and their voices muffled by the cold, dark water, the piercing chill numbing all their senses. After a while, the flow of visions began to twist and distort even further, then faded away as they sank even deeper. In their place, new visions began to appear like a blur of light, visions of painful past seemingly intended to remind them of their feeble existence. Dorumon recalled her jealousy of other Digimons, of what they had and the life they led. She was different, unique, [i]unknown[/i], and, as a result, was consigned to a life of solitude as most wouldn’t accept her. It wasn’t her choice to be so different, yet she suffered the consequence anyway and could do little but stew in her misery. When Dorumon then found herself being ripped apart from her den in the forest to be thrown to a world unknown, the last thought that accompanied the final sight of her former home was that the entirety of Digital World was having so much fun at her expense. Zei was forced to relieve her literal fear: the overwhelming cold water chocking the life out of her while she flailed helplessly in it not once, but twice. She, a child trained in martial arts and groomed to be strong physically and emotionally, nearly succumbed to [i]water[/i], her saving grace being the others who came to rescue her both times. The solution to her mortal problem seemed simple enough, yet she was unable to do so. The same happened when she confronted Takeda after Dirk’s death. A swing of her iaito was all she needed, but she couldn’t do it as well. Helplessness. Regret. Moon=Millenniummon wanted them to feel only these, to let them take over and never again regain their resolve to challenge him. For a moment, the empty peace they seemingly provided was tempting. They were certainly far more comfortable than struggling through the pains and agony of the reality they were facing now. However, just as Moon=Millenniummon was on the cusp of victory over them, his temporal visions began to work against it. Intermingled with the memories of the painful past was the entire battle against Yggdrasil’s loyalist Royal Knights from the beginning of their stand to their last push. The Royal Knight’s civil war had taken quite all manner of tolls from all of them. It ripped apart the existing law and order of the Digital World and carried precarious repercussions for the human world as well. The battle had left Zei vulnerable to the gnawing anger and desperation that nearly consumed her during the Dark Digivolution and filled Dorumon with resentment over not only her own inability to meaningfully assist, but also her own incomplete existence which, until then, was merely a facade for Alphamon. At the same time, the battle finally put an end to the divide that had ripped apart the Royal Knight to its core and finally gave the order, along with the rest of the Digital World, the chance to heal and rebuild. It brought the humans closer to their Digimon partners and to each other, and, for most, it gave both Zei and Dorumon the resolve they needed to push through despite the trauma they carried home with them. A blink later, the scenes changed entirely. A platter of more past memories were served in front of them, yet what were brought to the table was a surprise none could expect. Dorumon saw the slumbering figure of Ranamon as the latter practically used her as a pillow and body warmer to the former’s chagrin, then the flustered face of the Mushroomon left inside the pit he dug for them after he tried to backstab them during one of their heists, the crisp cold cabbage she pulled out after her first raid of Zei’s fridge and finally NeonGuilmon’s face during their private talk back in the Digital World that brought them closer together. For Zei, her servings were the memories of the Digi-Egg that eventually hatched into Dodomon who then latched to her hand like a squishy teething puppy, the first meetings with the other humans that were now fighting by her side, Siggy’s face, flush with adrenaline, as he reached out to rescue her along with Dorumon, whose body was evidently not made for much swimming, and the shared resolve within Dorumon and Ranamon as they set out together on what could be their last battle. It was as if the malevolent Digimon had exhausted all the hopeless futures it could show them, so it opted to torment them with visions of the past, perhaps desiring to break them with their past mistakes and regret. Yet, it had neglected the fact that, while they might not have the most pleasant past, they were nonetheless shaped by what they had experienced and endured. Their past had molded their personalities, their views of the two worlds, and their resolve not to surrender to the festering whims of evil and selfishness. Not only that, though their past pains were piercingly bitter, they were also accompanied by the bursting, delectable flavors of new experiences, new friendship and the accomplishment they managed to achieve in their life thus far. They left as much impression as the defeats and struggles. In fact, because of those very defeats and struggles that Moon=Millenniummon had brought up, every victory they managed to savor was more meaningful, more impactful, more [i]powerful[/i], and this was something not even the artificial Digimon could hide from them no matter how far it dragged them away from reality. Like pouring generous amount of pure oil into a dying ember, they re-ignited the rage that came forth from their union. The sorrow and loneliness inflicted by the bleak visions became a fuel for the raging inferno and the happiness and determination that came from their past became the wind that carried the flames to burn away the sea of despair and pierce the dark skies. --- Dorugoramon, the raw essence of their will and their united desire, snarled back to life and clawed her way out of the sea of despair, churning the dark waters with her frantic move for the surface. No phantom hands could hold her back now, shredded by her fangs and claws, and no silence could hold against the loud, ear-piercing roar she let loose from her steel maw the moment she emerged out of the drowning despair. The bad memories reminded them why they wanted to be strong. The good memories reminded them why they wanted to [i]remain[/i] strong. They vowed to never forget them, yet not let the memories chain them down lest they drown them alive. They would hold these memories for those who had departed and for those who were making their last stand against the unleashed horror, the friends and allies who needed every helping hand they could get. [i]No more.[/i] As if reacting to the heat of the dragon’s fury, the multitude of visions began to crack, like a mirror shattering from exposure to intense temperature. Those cracks eventually widened until their entire field of visions resemble a kaleidoscope of fractured glass and distorted lights before, with one last crack, they shattered into fine dust that gradually cleared Dorugoramon’s view, allowing her to see the malevolent raging storm and thick dark veil in the distance along with the sights of her incapacitated allies, a few still in a prone position. [i]No more![/i] Having made a crash landing onto an office building below in her state of silent catatonia, it was Dorugoramon’s own steel-hard body that kept her from reeling too badly from the rushing pain. That, and the electrifying rush of her digital nervous systems coming back online overriding the pain in the first place. [i][b]NO MORE!!![/b][/i] The shared minds within were still reeling, but they were free again. That was all that mattered. Letting the world know that she was back in business, Dorugoramon rose up from where she was slumped, shook her body to clear the debris of the building that had taken the short end of the stick, then let out a roar of fury with all the breath she had, her claws enveloped by bright, raging fire. With a lash of her tail, she reduced the abandoned buildings around her into crumbling rubble as a fiery ring burned around her, the asphalt having melted and burned due to the intensity of the fire and leaking gas fueling the fire to form a burning ring around the steel dragon’s form. In the ring of inferno, Dorugoramon made a roaring oath to the sky. [b][i]Moon=Millenniummon will PAY for what it did to them all.[/i][/b]