"Darkest Before the Duskmon"

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The new Warrior stood before the group of shocked DigiDestineds who were all staring at the figure dressed in black with fear in their eyes.

"Who is this guy?" BurningGreymon asked.

"I am Duskmon the Legendary Warrior of Darkness." He laughed darkly.

"Well, that explains the outfit." The Beast of Flame muttered.

"You have done well against my brethren." Duskmon said raising his blade making everyone tense.

"Let's see how strong you really are. Show me your power." He said and sent a blast of red light out at them, the Warriors all dodging and saw that the area they were standing was now destroyed.

"All he did was swing his sword." KorIkakkumon noted.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Zephyrmon said.

"Yeah, I can already tell that this guy is gonna be even stronger than the others." Lupusmon frowned.

There was something about Duskmon, about the aura that was surrounding him.

It feintly reminded the Beast of Hope of the same aura that had once covered the Digimon Emperor, but why was that?

"Come on, there's only one of him." BurningGreymon said.

Duskmon then laughed, looking amused by how hesitant everyone was to attack him.

"If we defeated Grumblemon and Petaldramon, then laughing boy over there should be a piece of cake. Remember, we're Legendary Warriors." BurningGreymon told them.

With that said, he then charged at Duskmon and the rest of the Beasts all followed after him, not willingly to let him take on the Warrior of Darkness by himself.

MetalKabuterimon attacked with his Bolo Thunder, but it didn't do any damage to Duskmon and as the Beast of Flame grabbed him, the Warrior of Darkness flipped him over.

"Takuya!" Everyone yelled as they crowded around BurningGreymon to check on him.

"You're weaker than I thought. I should at least give you the chance to surrender." Duskmon taunted.

"You can give it, but we won't take it." MetalKabuterimon told him.

"You are proving to be very foolish creatures." Duskmon said.

"JP, Tommy, switch to your Human Spirits." Lobomon said to the two males.

"Right!" they said and Slide Evolved to Beetlemon and Kumamon.

"I really don't see how that's gonna help." Lupusmon commented as she shared a worried look with Zephyrmon.

"I hope Lobomon has a plan." The Beast of Wind said.

"Let's go!" Lobomon said and they all charged him as BurningGreymon stayed on the ground.

Lobomon then swung his blade down on Duskmon and their swords clashed, the Warrior of Light being stunned by the sheer power he sensed from him.

"Each of your attacks seems to get weaker, not stronger. You must know you can't defeat me." Duskmon said to Lobomon as they stared each other down, the Warrior of Light trying to push back against his blade.

"Little help here guys?" Lobomon asked his friends.

Hearing this, the rest of the Warriors and Beasts then gathered around behind with their attacks all prepared.

Combining the four attacks together, Zephyrmon, Lupusmon, Beetlemon and Kumamon all sent them towards Duskmon while Lobomon quickly jumped out of the way.

When the attacks hit Duskmon, they created an explosion from the power and the five friends all stood on the sidelines as they stared at the blast.

"Now that ought to quiet him down." Bokomon said.

"Where'd he go?" Lobomon asked when the smoke cleared to reveal Duskmon had disappeared.

Ears twitching, Lupusmon looked up and gasped when she saw Duskmon hovering in the air as he prepared to attack them all.

"Guys, watch out!" Lupusmon warned.

Duskmon used his Deadly Gaze on them, making the two female Beasts and the three male Warriors all cry out in pain from the attack.

"Or make him fight back harder." Bokomon frowned fearfully at the sight of the children being harmed by their strongest opponent yet.

"Your efforts against me are pitiful. Surely you have more power than that." Duskmon taunted.

"Hey, we're just getting warmed up." BurningGreymon said.

"What?" Duskmon asked as he turned to see the Beast of Flame struggling to stand, but managed it.

"Don't take us too lightly you big eyeball. You want power, I'll show ya power! WILD FIRE TSUNAMI!" he roared as his body erupted in flames.

The flames then swirled around Duskmon, trapping him inside the tornado of fire.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." BurningGreymon gloated.

"Takuya, get out of there!" Lobomon yelled as he and the others ran over towards their friend.

"What? Why? I just defeated him!" BurningGreymon said.

"All of us combined weren't able to defeat him and you think you did it by yourself?" Lobomon asked in disbelief.

"Well, yeah." BurningGreymon said in an 'Isn't it obvious?' tone of voice.

"Are you freaking kidding me! Move your tail, we gotta get out of here." Lupusmon snapped as she and Lobomon rushed off from the giant flame.

Usually she would be against running away from a fight, but she knew that everyone was injured and scared, so they needed to find a place to hide out and re-group for now.

Zephyrmon, Beetlemon and Kumamon quickly ran after them with Bokomon and Neemon in their arms, intent on escaping while they had the chance as well.

"Come on!" Lobomon called back when he saw BurningGreymon lagging behind.

"I mean, I hit him pretty good, didn't I guys? Uh, guys?" BurningGreymon called as he flew after the others.

(Later on...)

"Man, the Dark Continent sure is dark." JP said as Koji and Daisuke, who were holding hands at that moment, led the group through the dark area to find a place to rest.

After his fight with Duskmon and feeling the dark energy that came from the Warrior, Koji had become scared and decided to hold onto Daisuke's hand as a reminder that she and the others were all safe.

"You know guys, the more I think about it, the more I think I really did beat that guy." Takuya said from the very back of the group.

Everyone groaned in annoyance as they listened to the goggle head gloat once again.

"I can't believe an attack that powerful wouldn't do something serious to him. You know?" he continued.

He was met by silence as everyone continued to walk forward, not bothering to glance back at Takuya.

"Fine." He pouted after no one said anything.

"Do you guys hear something that sounds like someone talking?" JP asked.

"Not me, but if I did hear that I'd say it was getting annoying." Koji snarked.

"Getting?" Daisuke quipped.

"Very funny, guys. You can play your little game all you want, but I'm telling you, that guy is toast. There's just no way he could just stand there and take that fire attack of mine." Takuya said.

"Yeah, right. Were you at some other fight? He took all our attacks and didn't even flinch!" the Warrior of Light exclaimed.

"Ah, so you can hear me now, huh? Well, then riddle me this, smart guy, how can you be so sure about what happened after you made us all run away?" Takuya asked.

"Do you really think he's alive?" Zoe asked Koji.

"There's no doubt about it at all. None of us did any serious damage to him." Koji said.

"He's strong. Stronger than any of the other Digimon we've gone up against so far." Daisuke frowned at the ground.

She wished she could give some sort of inspiring speach like Tai would to make everyone feel confident in themselves, but she was just as scared as everyone else was.

After being hit by that attack, she had felt the intense pain and had been scared that it would have killed her.

"So how are we supposed to beat him?" Tommy asked.

"I don't know. We'll find someplace safe to come up with a plan." Koji said as everyone stopped walking.

"Then we'll never have a plan. There's no place safe in this world." Tommy said sadly as Takuya then looked him, then turned to glare at Koji.

"You know what Koji, this is all you fault. If you just hadn't been so eager to turn tail and run!" Takuya accussed.

"Guys, that's enough." Daisuke glared, not wanting them to upset everyone else.

"Just what are you saying?" Koji demanded.

"I'm saying that if we only stuck around and fought like a team, we might have beaten him!" Takuya yelled.

"And what do you know about working as a team?" Koji asked.

"Wha-What do you mean?" Takuya asked in surprise.

"I mean you didn't look too much like a team player when you went charging in against Duskmon by yourself, did you?" Koji demanded.

"Huh?" Takuya asked.

"You could have been hurt, Takuya! Or we all could have been!" Koji told him sternly.

"So?!" Takuya asked.

So, this wasn't a game.

If they died here, then they couldn't start over and try again.

Honestly, Daisuke thought that Takuya had understood this, but it seemed like he had forgotten this when no one was able to defeat them and he had grown too over confident.

Hopefully, Takuya would regain his common sense before he got himself killed.

"Well, I'm famished, who wants to eat?" Bokomon asked making Takuya trip and almost fall in disbelief.

"Huh? Are you kidding me?! We're right in the middle of an argument!" Takuya yelled with steam coming out of his ears.

"Getting angered easily is a sure sign that you're hungry. Now let's find something to eat and discuss this like civilized people, if you can." Bokomon said.

"Yeah, let's eat!" Neemon cheered.

"I'll second that motion!" Zoe said raising her hand.

"Count me in!" Tommy raised his hand also as JP's stomach growled and he held it.

"Yeah, I'm wastin' away to nothing." He said with a blush.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Daisuke said as she forced a cheerful smile.

No one but Koji was able to tell that it was a fake and he tightened his hold on her hand.

"And it'll keep Takuya's mouth occupied." Bokomon muttered.

Takuya pouted at this as everyone was happy to stop walking and find something to eat.

(later on...)

Everyone had split up to find food, firewood and water after they had found a place t make camp.

Koji and Daisuke were gathering water from a clean looking lake they had found.

During the time they took to walk over and gather up the water in buckets they had found, Daisuke had been silent and looked depressed which Koji took notice of.

"You're being awfully quiet." Koji commented.

Startled out of her thoughts, Daisuke glanced over at Koji who was giving her a serious look.

"Yeah, well... I was just thinking about what happened." She said.

Koji remained quiet, but he gave her a look that encouraged her to go on.

"I-I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but... I'm scared. I haven't been scared since the battle where I lost V-Mon." She said.

Her voice wavered when she said her partner's name and Koji was quick to walk to her side, placing his arms around her as tears began to fall down her face.

"Hey, there's no need to be scared. I won't let anything happen to you." He told her.

"It's not just me I'm scared for. I'm scared that I'll lose all of you guys, too. You're the best friends I've ever had and I don't want to lose any of you. I lost myself. I felt myself falling into the dark after I lost V-Mon. But you guys helped me feel better and move on from the pain. I-I just can't lose any of you! I won't be able to survive it! I just can't!" She sobbed.

Shocked by all of the girl's emotions finally crashing down, Koji simply held her as she clung to him, crying into his chest.

She had managed to care for Koji, Takuya, Tommy, JP and Zoe, and even Bokomon and Neemon in a way she had never done with TK, Kari, Yolei, Cody and Ken.

They were so very important to her and she wasn't going to lose them to anyone.

"Everything's going to be okay. I don't know how, but we'll find a way out of this." Koji said as he buried his face into her hair.

(Afterwards...)

Not saying a thing about Daisuke's breakdown, the duo of Light and Hope had returned to the ruins where everyone else were waiting on them.

Once they found some meat apples to cook in a fire and when the group got ready to eat, Takuya and Tommy rushed over to tell them the plan they came up with.

"So that is your big plan?" Zoe, JP, Daisuke, Bokomon and Neemon asked in surprise.

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm." Takuya and Tommy nodded with smiliar smiles on their faces.

"How long did it take you to come up with 'attack all at once'? A second?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, we tried that already, remember?" JP reminded.

"Now, now, now. I realize it may look like the same plan, but once I lay it out for ya, you'll see plenty of differences." Takuya said as Tommy nodded.

"All right, Tommy, show 'em the plan." Takuya said.

"One plan coming up." Tommy said as he pulled out a wooden doll that looked exactly like Duskmon made of wood and leaves and placed it on the stone table.

"Now, say this is Duskmon." He said.

"Wow, Tommy, did you make that?" Zoe asked as everyone but Koji got up to check it out.

"Mm-hmm." Tommy nodded.

"Man, it looks just like him." JP said in amazement.

"I helped too, ya know." Takuya said as he placed a wooden doll Agunimon.

"Now, back to the plan. I'll Spirit Evolve to Agunimon and stop him-"Takuya was then cut off.

"Do I get my own doll, too?" Zoe asked eagerly.

"Yeah, I want one!" JP smiled.

"Me too!" Daisuke chirped.

Tommy giggled as he and Takuya held up wodden dolls they made of Lupusmon, Zephyrmon, MetalKabuterimon, KorIkkakumon and KendoGarurumon.

"I wouldn't leave you out. Everyone's in the plan so everyone gets one. Now let's get back to my idea." Takuya said.

"Apparently we don't exist, Neemon." Bokomon said dejectedly as Neemon sulked.

"Okay, so once I've stopped him, everyone will Beast Spirit evolve, then MetalKabuterimon and KorIkkakumon will move in. Zephyrmon, Lupusmon and KendoGarurumon will sneak up on him, then when I give the signal, we'll all attack! And that's that. So any questions?" Takuya asked as he knocked down Duskmon's doll.

"Just one; when do we get going?" Tommy asked with a grin.

"I'm in shock. That looks like it might really work." Zoe said with a surprised tone.

"I don't know, there's still a big problem." JP said.

"What do ya mean? Where's there a problem?" Takuya asked.

"Oh, yeah. Just how do you plan on stopping Duskmon?" Zoe questioned with a skeptical look.

"I mean, he knocked ya all over the place last time and that was your Beast Spirit." JP said.

"Yeah, well last time I wasn't on guard. This time I'll know what to expect." Takuya pouted.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Daisuke said under her breath.

"He sure is confident." Neemon chirped.

"Yes, and no one can figure out why." Bokomon muttered.

"I don't like it." Koji said making everyone turn to see the boy was sitting cross legged on the ground with his arms crossed and frowned at Takuya.

"Aw, what's the matter? Not enough running away for you?" the goggle head taunted.

"I can't believe him. When did he become such a chicken?" he muttered.

"Duskmon's different than anyone we've ever fought before. Instead of fighting, we should-"Koji was cut off.

"Wait, you're not really thinking of running away, are you?" Takuya asked.

"Yes, I am." Koji said.

"You're pathetic! What makes you think we'll be able to get away even if we wanted to?" Takuya asked.

"Come on, don't fight." Tommy said as Koji stood up.

"Takuya, let's talk." He said walking off.

"Yeah, let's." the goggle head said as he followed.

"Guys, don't do anything stupid." Zoe called.

"Don't worry, we're just gonna talk." Koji said.

"Yeah, if he's lucky, that's all we'll do." Takuya scoffed.

Once they were gone, Zoe whimpered as she laid her head on the table while the others watch the rivals walk off.

"Man, why do those two have to get up to this now?" JP complained.

"They're both scared and have their own oppinions on what they should do. Of course they're gonna argue to figure out what's best for us." Daisuke sighed.

She had a feeling the way Koji was acting was her fault after she had broken down in his arms.

"I think what's best for all of us is if they didn't argue at all. We should all be staying together. It's too dangerous to be wandering away from the group." Zoe said.

Tommy sighed sadly, upset with the situation and Daisuke shook off her own depression to go over to comfort the young boy.

"Don't worry, guys, everything will work itself out in the end." Daisuke smiled down at Tommy as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Do you really believe that, Daisuke?" The Warrior of Ice asked her.

"I have too, Tommy. Believing is all I really have." She sighed.

Just then, the group were all shocked when a blast of red energy was sent their way and everyone ducked for cover from the attack that destroyed the ruins they were hiding in.

Quickly, the humans all grabbed their D-tectors and the dark area was lit up with green, magenta, pink and yellow lights as the four Warriors all began to evolve.

"Execute: Beast Spirit Evolution!"

"METALKABUTERIMON!"

"ZEPHYRMON!"

"KORIKKAKUMON!"

"LUPUSMON!"

"How'd he find us so quickly?" MetalKabuterimon asked as everyone stared at Duskmon.

"Never mind. You won't have long to worry about it." Duskmon said with his blades drawn.

"Why don't I find that reasuring?" Zephyrmon whined.

"It'll be okay. Just stick to the plan." KorIkkakumon said.

"What good is a plan for all of us to attack when we're not all here? Guys, where are you?" the Beast of Wind asked as she looked around for Koji and Takuya.

The two boys were then seen running towards the group.

"I guess we couldn't have runa way from this guy even if we wnated to, Koji." Takuya sniped while Koji simply glared.

"I sure hope the plan works." Neemon said.

"It better. It's all we have." Bokomon commented.

"Execute: Beast Spirit Evolution!"

"KENDOGARURUMON!"

The Beast of Light then gave a howl, declaring a figth was about to begin.

"Execute: Spirit Evolution!"

"AGUNIMON!"

"This is it, guys! Attack!" Agunimon yelled as he charged at Duskmon.

"Wait!" KendoGarurumon called.

"Takuya, would you stop and think this through?" Lupusmon called after him.

"I guess we have to follow Takuya's plan now." MetalKabuterimon commented.

"Hey, don't worry, it's a good plan." KorIkkakumon asured.

"Let's hope so." MetalKabuterimon said.

"You're nothing against all of us together, Duskmon. So, you wanna fight? Here come sthe worst you've ever seen!" Agunimon yelled as he jumped into the air and attacked Duskmon with fireballs that he trhew, but Duskmon moved out of the way gracefully.

"All right, Speedy, dodge this!" Agunimon yelled as he then used Pyro Tornado to give himself extra speed and strength as he kicked Duskmon across the face.

"Hey, it's working!" Bokomon grinned as Neemon cheered.

Duskmon then laughed as Agunimon jumped away and stared at the Warrior of Darkness in shock.

"You fool. Did you learn nothing from our last meeting?" Duskmon asked as he turned his head to Agunimon.

"No! I can't lose!" Agunimon said as he then punched Duskmon in the face.

"Well, Takuya's finally lost it." Bokomon whimpered as Neemon shook in fear.

The Warrior of Flame repeatedly punched Duskmon in the face, but the evil digimon wasn't even harmed or bothered as he simply took the punishment.

"Are you finished?" Duskmon asked in a tone that someone commenting on the weather would use.

"He's too strong." Agunimon whispered as he shook in fear.

Roaring, Agunimon then ran behind Duskmon and wrapped his arms under Duskmon to hold him in place.

"Attack now!" Agunimon screamed.

"That's our cue." Zephyrmon took to the air.

"Let's go, guys!" Lupusmon cried.

Everyone then rushed over to Duskmon and set up corners all around him, each Beast prepared to attack when they were given the signal.

Zephyrmon used Hurricane Gale, Lupusmon followed after with her Wolf Claw attack, KendoGarurumon used Lupine Laser, then MetalKabuterimon used Bolo Thunder and Korkkakumon used Avalanche Axes.

Agunimon then jumped into the air and watched as the five attacks combined and created a multicolored dome around Duskmon.

"All right!" Agunimon cheered.

Yelling, Duskmon then obsorbed the dome making everyone stare in horror when they saw that the evil digimon was unharmed.

"He obsorbed all of their attacks." Bokomon said in shock as Neemon whimpered.

"It's not possible!" Agunimon denied.

"You shall be first." Duskmon turned his head to Agunimon.

Seeing the blade rise, Agunimon closed his eyes in fear when Duskmon then swung his sword down, not noticing the steak of white that jumped in front of him just as the blade swung down.

"KOJI!" Everyone screamed, Lupusmon's voice being the loudest.

Confused, Agunimon opened his eyes and gasped when he found KendoGarurumon standing in front of him.

Data gathered around him and he transformed back into Koji, dropping to the ground in pain and Lupusmon rushed over towards him.

"Koji, are you okay? Please, by okay." The she-wolf begged as she gathered the human up in her arms.

"Ko-Koji?" Duskmon repeated in confusion and recognition.

"Koji, why did you do it? Oh, Koji!" Agunimon cried.

"Koji!" Duskmon then yelled.

Everyone was confused over why the Warrior of Darkness was reacting to seeing the human injured.

Just then, Duskmon screamed and a wave of darkness covered the area, making everyone gasp as they soon saw nothing but black.