Beelzemon didn’t quite sigh with relief, but he felt a knot of anxiety loosen as Rodendramon seemed to stand down. The aura coming off of the other Digimon still didn’t inspire a huge amount of confidence or camaraderie, but it seemed they weren’t in any danger of doing Millenniummon’s job for it. 

“Alright, he’s in the loop.” Parasimon likewise seemed cautiously optimistic, although he kept his shield engaged in case of any sudden turns. “That makes four of us here, and Examon and Dorugoramon can’t be too far off. I think I can sense them getting closer.”

At that, Dirk surfaced from his temporary backseat in the fusion to step back from the others. He wasn’t sure where he stood with Siggy or Neon after what had happened, but that was a paltry concern compared to Dorumon and Zei. The strange name that they were using to describe the two’s new form had his hair standing on end, the bizarre and unexplained change suggesting that something was very, very wrong. If they were coming, he’d have to watch himself. 

‘Man, if only you’d figured that one out sooner.’

‘Can we not right now?’ At least Beelzemon was the same as ever, even if everything had been blown wide. And although his words were like salt in wounds that had only just begun to heal, they didn’t deter Dirk from expanding their senses to get a feeling for nearby-

‘Wait’. There was a new signal emerging, just to the west. It was more like Examon’s than what he remembered of Dorumon’s or Alphamon’s, but also unlike it. Less palpable and vast, but more concentrated and compact. A distinct feeling that identified itself in mere moments. 

[i]Dynasmon.[/i]

Dirk had come out of his experience across his personal timeline changed, but not completely. Old habits died hard, and his recollection of the bizarre conversation he’d had in liminal space ignited his old willfulness. 

“Right, I can sense something off in this direction.” Yelling up towards BanchoLeomon, Parasimon and- if he could understand him- Rodendramon, he waved in their direction before making a bee-line for the direction of the signal. “You’re doing a great job, I’ll be right back with a great job of my own, thanks bye!”

“Wait, don't just-" He heard Parasimon shout after him, but he soon faded out of earshot as he dived between the buildings towards Dynasmon. He was sure he was going to get an earful- possibly more- from BanchoLeomon when he got back, but he could live with that if he finally got some answers. 

[i]And by the devil floating in the sky, he was going to get them.[/i]
---

Dynasmon, the gestalt mind comprised of an alternate and future incarnation of Wizardmon and Elle - the native to this universe and time - turned his great horned head in every direction. He had spent the time since seeing the others and splitting off looking for UlforceVeedramon. [i]For Leon.[/i] They couldn’t be gone, it wasn’t possible. But the odds were against the Royal Knight, even though time didn’t work as it should here, he was aware that some abnormal kind was passing, and Ulforce had been gone longer than anyone else.

He considered that maybe someone had seen him fall, but he sensed no energy nearby. Or could he? He knew he sensed something approaching him, but the suppression field that Milleniummon exuded clouded his sight and sixth senses somewhat. Sometimes it felt that he could see [i]through[/i] time itself, into the realm of quantum decisions. Dynasmon gave up the search to face the incoming source of power. As it grew closer he felt himself become more and more apprehensive of its origin. It couldn’t be..

“There you are, thank god.” Down on the ground, Beelzemon hunched over to catch his breath. With their ad hoc Biomerge, it seemed his and Dirk’s reserves of power weren’t exactly what they had once been; the mad dash to catch up with the Knight had taken a lot more out of him that it would ever have otherwise. “Thought I’d never catch up to you when you turned for the bay.” 

A few deep breaths later, and he straightened up. Blast Mode wasn’t on the table at the moment, so getting closer to Dynasmon was going to be a challenge unless he swam over to him. But the Knight wasn’t so high up or so far away that he wouldn’t be able to hear him, so that meant he could cut right to the chase. 

“That old bastard at the halfway point caught me up. What’s this about you not being you?” And with all the subtlety of a piano smashing into the pavement, he did just that.

Dynasmon sighed as he saw who had approached him. He allowed himself to drift back to the shore and consider his answer to the Demon’s questions. His wings beat a steady rhythm as he dropped closer, stopping by the shore and then stepping smoothly on to the sand proper. He watches the particles float past him in a slow dance, moving slower than himself in this time. Odd.

Blinking, he returned his attention to Beelzemon, and he felt something shift within himself. Wizardmon could tell that the being he was looking at was only half from this plane of existence, much like himself. A creature only possible due to this event. Not meant for the world but brought to save it anyway. He knew he would have to be careful with what he said, though Witchelny, and his species, had only theorised about it existing, he was one of the few since the original crossing, that he knew of who had acted on that theory.

“By the tone of your voice and question, I assume you are Dirk. Welcome back.” He said, though after a moment of pause. “I know about as much as you do right now, all the old man told you was told to me also.” Dynasmon wasn’t sure what exactly that irritating man had told Dirk, but he hoped that this would throw him off the scent for now. He also neglected to say that he was the one who told the old man the theory of Witchelny. They had crossed over as a species to this universe’s digimon world a long time ago, so long ago that knowledge of how they had accomplished it was lost. But the theory remained, they had only grasped at much larger concepts of the universe to slide through. He had used this same theory when he felt the rupture in space-time occur. He had grabbed his ‘friend’ and shown him how he could use his digivice to follow his path through the multiverse, to seek that only temporarily lost and recover it.

“All I know is that time and space aren’t limited to what we see and know here.” It occurred to him that Beelzemon was there alone, where were the others? Dynasmon looked around for them, they had to be somewhere, unless they’d already engaged Milleniummon without him and Ulforce?

“You’re kidding…” Perhaps it was the exhaustion and stress getting to him, but Beelzemon couldn’t help but sound a little bit petulant as Dynasmon explained. Dirk cast his thoughts back to the meeting, trying to recall anything that could let them move forwards. “Didn’t he come over with you to begin with? He said you’re from the next world- the world waiting beyond ‘liminal space’, or whatever the fuck that strange place was.” And with the memory of the conversation came the recollection of the horror he’d seen: “And also that you’ve fought things like Millenniummon before.”

“He followed me, yes. Or rather.. One of me, it’s a complicated affair and there’s a lot to consider even for someone like Wizardmon.” He took a breath and considered his words more carefully. One stated the wrong way could be catastrophic. 

“I know that you’re dead, and in this instance in time, Wizardmon is also dead. One of me returned to the reformed Digiegg of myself from another time and universe.” He pressed his fingers to his chin and considered for a moment “I think I’m also dead in many places, one gets a sense of things when one crosses through. The Wizardmon that my friend knew opened the gate and pushed me back through time while the friend pushed you. Does that clear things up for you?” Dynasmon was attempting to make it deliberately complicated if only to shut Dirk up a moment and give him a chance to return to the task at hand. 

He tried to look into the distance to see the others, for a reprieve. He granted that their arrival could bring more questions than less though. He was dismayed at the apparent disappearance of Ulforce, Elle felt an ache deep in her heart as the potential reality of losing her first love began to sprout in her mind. [i]Leon, gone[/i]. It couldn’t be true, but she felt that it was very likely at this point. She didn’t get how things worked like her partner did (and she was fairly sure he was only guessing at half of it anyway) but she knew in her heart the time he’d been gone now meant he wasn’t coming back. They were one down and she felt his loss like that of her brother and her partner. So many fresh wounds, she had to calm herself. Forget the anger and misery. Lock it into a box and unpack it later, she told herself. She couldn’t help anyone if she was comatose [i]again[/i].

“Half truths and cryptic bullshit.” It did nothing to improve Dirk’s mood, but the Dynasmon’s words hit their mark. “Figures, I don’t know why I expected anything else after all this time.” 

A sigh. Oh well, no good crying over it. If Göring back there wasn’t lying out of his rotting ass about seeing Examon and Dorugoramon and Dynasmon had covered the ground that he and the others hadn’t, then there was only member of the party remaining to be located. 

“Forget about it, if I ever get the chance to go back to that weird halfway point I’ll personally ram my foot up that guy’s ass for the both of us.” Couldn’t hurt at this point. “Not sure if you heard them from all the way over here, but me, BanchoLeomon and Frankensteiner found Jordan and Shrewmon. They sound like they forgot how to talk like people, but they’re up. If fuckface is telling the truth about finding Examon and Dorugoramon, then that’s just UlforceVeedramon left to find.” 

Dynasmon nodded and looked up at the sky, “If you want to yell at him then we’ll need to win this.” There’s nothing else to do now, everyone that it was possible to find had been found. “As for Ulforce, we’re all there is. I don’t think he made it.” Elle cringed within Dynasmon’s consciousness as this was said, it was one thing to know the truth but another entirely to have to say it to someone else. Dynasmon kept his head up as he recounted the different possibilities he had seen, every shard of possibility in the multiverse with this as a focal point.

He lowered his gaze back down, looking towards Beelzemon and his hitch hiker. “Isn’t that right?” He said: but rather than look at them as he spoke, his vision seemed to move over and past them. 

Dirk paused, looking back up from his thoughts. So, Leon and UlforceVeedramon were still unaccounted for. The thought was enough to fill his blood with ice, were it not for his perennial stubbornness deciding otherwise. Something in his gut told him that they were alive, and despite everything he chose to lean into that. 

Dynasmon's response confused him, though. Was Elle spiralling, or was the stress of the situation taking its toll on Dynasmon despite his seeming knowledge of futures and outcomes? Or-

“You’d know more than me. I’ve had this conversation about three times in the last half hour, and none of them have looked good for him.”

Or had another Digimon arrived during the conversation?

“... How long have you been there?” Dirk turned, catching the sight of Parasimon’s gigantic silhouette behind the fog as he leaned against one of the taller buildings still standing over the bay. 

“Long enough.” He’d have expected him to sound angrier. But then- “I have no idea what it meant, but you’re even worse at insulting people than you are at staying out of trouble.” 

“Surprised you don’t know what a Nazi is.” Dirk shrugged. Fine, if this was the way he wanted to play, then he was game. “Broke all the mirrors in the castle, did you?”

“I don’t know, do they kill people that don’t represent a threat to them and then carry on like other people are the problem?” Through the veil of smoke, Dirk could see the various lights dotting the Knight’s face narrow and increase in intensity. “Get a grip. I’m not having this conversation with you.”

“Yeah, I guess if you take away helping Imperialdramon create a fascist regime, you don’t have much to talk to us about.” 

‘... Would this be a bad time to point out-’ Beelzemon started, before Dirk tuned him out with a huff. 

“Anyway, I wouldn’t be here right now if I couldn’t measure up to the fact that I fucked up.” It occured to Dirk as he spoke that Parasimon had been fairly cagey about talking about how exactly he’d gotten here. He vaguely remembered that the Knight- ‘for whatever probably batshit insane reason’- agreed to assist in the final operation against Tokugawa. But standing here right now, present and conscious? “What about you? Did that thing take one look into your squirming rat brain and spit it out? Or did you just leave the ov-”

Dirk stopped mid-sentence, his mouth agape. A palpable moment passed, and then-

“I’m not going to apologize for him, but this conversation is going nowhere fast.” Beelzemon sighed, shaking his head as he wrested control back from Dirk. Guess old habits really did die hard. 

“So I noticed.” Parasimon huffed, rising and making his way over towards Beelzemon and Dynasmon as he looked into the distance towards the crystalline nightmare in the sky, being careful not to extend the distance of his lights such that they would alert it to their presence. “But I think he deserves an answer, after that performance. I came back because this is the way it has to be. Me and that thing up there, or the world.”

He lingered on that ominous phrase momentarily, before looking up to the momentarily silent Dynasmon. “I’m sure you knew that already, though.” There was no point in hiding that he’d overheard enough of that part of the conversation to piece together a functional conclusion about the Digimon’s mysterious re-entry.

Dynasmon had remained out of the argument between the pair and only spoke up once he was addressed by Parasimon. He let his shoulders drop a little and sighed, weighing up how best to parse the information-

He hadn’t seen Parasimon this close-up before now. The sight of the Knight had been enough to make him avert his eyes the best he could when he spoke to him over Examon’s body, and although he’d seen him coming long before Beelzemon noticed him, the fog had obscured the details of his form. He almost wished he had the same luxury now, the miasma of the Knight's immolated frame and patchwork armour of unearthly organic crystal almost suffocating this close-up.

But as he perceived the logic and pattern behind that surreal biology, and noticed the incandescent flicker of the wings running down the insect's back, those thoughts ground to a halt. 

The infinite kaleidoscope that made up the entity inhabiting Dynasmon’s body comprised many worlds and many times. In some, he and Elle fought the Royal Knights with Siggy, Zei, Lucas, Dirk, Leon, Jordan and their partners. In others, they went at it alone, only intermittently working with the people that monitored movement between the Human and Digital Worlds as the line between them and their peoples became more and more blurred. There were so many world lines, so many possibilities and variables, that predicting the path each one would take to its conclusion was all but futile until events came crashing down on the interloper like lightning from the heavens. 

As he looked over Parasimon, a mere handful of those countless threads tightened in his mind. He pushed them away, the collective sending them back to the place beyond the universe itself. But while Elle only felt the most infinitesimally brief moment of deja vu, brushing it off as a mere twinge of emotion , Dynasmon didn’t need to call upon his knowledge of those lines to realise what their reaction entailed. 

“I know… Time is a mess right now, but I know that you are ready to do what needs to be done.” Was all he felt he could say, the tapestry of the future laid out before him but not one he can look at or discuss openly or even act on with knowledge about it. With a shake of his head he checked the sky again, watching for movements that Milleniumon might make, telegraphs of attacks.

“Hold on.” Beelzemon wasn’t far off from Dirk in his feelings about the colossal Knight, but he recognized those words, what their bitter edge foretold. “What are you-”

“At this point, it doesn’t matter.” Parasimon looked down from Dynasmon to Beelzemon, and then back up at the crystal in the distance. Damn it, he was done talking about this. Every conversation his fate threatened to rear its ugly head in since he last spoke to Examon tugged harder on his resolve. 

“You’ll find out soon enough, one way or another.” The time for what-ifs and could-have-beens was long gone. There was no coming back from what he had done, all he could do now was- “All I can do now is roll the dice and hope that monster chokes on it- and me.”