Chapter 21: The Metal Mermaid

Somewhere in some Digital World in the vast multiverse, Digimon were running for their life as Gizumon XT left and right shot DigiCore destroying lasers at them, killing them permanently, preventing them from returning to DigiEggs, and absorbing their data. A group of Frigimon were in a frigid area running for their lives. "Hurry! Hurry! If that thing catches up to us! We're done for!" One Frigimon said. Another Frigimon stopped running and turned to face the Gizumon XT. "I'm tired of running! I say we destroy this monster!" He said. "Subzero Ice Punch!" the Frigimon yelled as he punched forward, sending a blast of ice at the Gizumon XT. Gizumon XT got hit with the blast of ice and was momentarily frozen. But it was only for a moment. Gizumon XT melted the ice with his laser and broke free. Then he shot Frigimon right in the middle of the chest, disintegrating him into particles that were then absorbed. "Chilly Bob! No!" exclaimed one of the Frigimon. The Frigimon group kept running until they were at a cliff's edge. It was a dead end! There was nowhere to run! The Frigimon stared at their pursuer in fear. There was only one Gizumon pursuing them at first, but then two more showed up. They all shot the Frigimon and destroyed them, and then absorbed their data into themselves.

Elsewhere in this Digital World, in this same frigid area, a group of Hyogamon were also fleeing from the pursuit of Gizumon XT. Hyogamon were an ice type subspecies of Ogermon. Three of them jumped up and attacked the Gizumon XT with the large icy clubs they were carrying while shouting "Ice Mace!" in unison. The Gizumon XT took some mild damage, but then knocked them all away with their large purple metallic arms. Two other Hyogamon who were a part of the group looked over to their comrades lying on the ground. "Fools! We can't fight these things! They're too strong!" One of them said. The Gizumon then shot one of the Hyogamon and disintegrated him and absorbed his data! Then, one by one it did the same thing to the other Hyogamon! The area was in chaos! Digimon of all sorts of different species were running for their lives and being shot down one by one.

What the Gizumon were seeing through their "eyes" (i.e camera lenses on the front of their bodies) was being sent in a feed back to computers in a large computer room in a remote location. Lots of people were sitting at lots of computers in the room. The room was reminiscent of a computer lab or a 9-1-1 operator call center. Each person at the computer had a blue grid pattern on their coats, and on their coats was an emblem. It looked like the planet Earth and had a large red number 1 in the middle of it. This Earth with the number 1 in the middle of it was imprinted on the right side of every single person in the room, right over their hearts. They also all wore silvery gray dress pants. Walking through the middle of the room was a man in the same uniform, but he had a headband on that no one else did. It was a gray metal headband that had a big red number 1 in the center. The man had black spiky hair and on his right cheek was a scar. "Status report! Whose Gizumon is totally full?" The man asked. Personnel answered via show of hands. Every single person in the room had their hands up. The man in the headband grinned. "Good. Owarimon is hungry." He said.

Each Gizumon could only hold so much data before it ran out of storage space. Unfortunately, when a Gizumon got full, that meant that it killed a total of anywhere between 10 to 500 Digimon! How many Digimon made a Gizumon XT full depended on the level of the Digimon absorbed. The higher the level, the more data was absorbed. Like the difference between a png photo being only a few kilobytes versus a long video that may be 20 gigabytes. One Gizumon XT could hold up to 10 Megas and 500 Champion Digimon. If they only killed babies, they could probably hold close to 3,000, but Baby Digimon had so little data to offer, that they usually didn't bother absorbing them. This is All For One World's headquarters. The man in the headband is their leader.

The leader and some other All For One World members walked down into a room that looked like the bedroom of some emo teenage girl from the mid 2000s. In the room, Owarimon was resting on the bed. At some point, an All For One World Agent had retrieved her from where Jawsmon had flung her. Owarimon looked like a 6-8 year old child at the top of her body. She had long black hair. She had blood red eyes with no irises or pupils, and down the sides of her cheeks were red markings that resembled tears of blood. All of her teeth were sharp and jagged like a shark's teeth. She wore a black tube top that exposed her midriff and was shoulderless. On her belly and on both arms were red Digital Hazard symbols. Her bottom half was like that of a snake, and her tail was lined up with lots of Red Stones or Deity Stones. She also had a Deity Stone in the middle of her chest.

The leader walked in and Owarimon looked over to him. She gave the man a psychotic grin. "Morty Shin, my master! Is my dinner finally ready?" She asked. Morty Shin is the name of All For One World's leader wearing the headband. Morty smiled and swung his arms out wide. "Yes, my dear. It is." He replied.

Morty Shin took Owarimon down to a room where lots of Gizumon XT were kept. The Gizumon XT all dumped their data into one large cylindrical tube. The tube was swirling with pixels. Owarimon slithered over to it, grinning and giggling in a deranged way on her way over to it. When she got up to the cylindrical tube, a scientist hooked up an IV into her arm. The other end of the IV was hooked up to the cylindrical tube. Owarimon had the data pumped into her via the IV. She grinned in pleasure.

Back in Universe 319….

A Kommondomon rips through a portal and drives onto a sandy dune. Three mermaids are sitting on a rock in the middle of the ocean nearby and hear the Kommondomon make a loud barking noise as it comes to a stop, kicking up lots of sand as it did so. "What in the world?" One of the mermaids on the rocks asked. "What do you think that is?" Asked one of the other mermaids. "Looks like a giant dog." Another Mermaid said. The door of the Kommondomon opened up and a brown haired man wearing a blue shirt and black jeans stepped out. He had a very youthful appearance. Although he was actually in his late 30s, he looked like a teenager. Coming out of the Kommondomon behind him was a Guilmon. Another person came out of the Kommondomon. This woman had short pink hair and pink colored eyes. She wore a denim jacket and a violet colored shirt. She also wore black skin tight jeans. Floating out behind this woman was a Lalamon. The Guilmon tugged at the youthful looking man's shirt. "Takatomon, is this where Taylor and Sharkmon landed?" Guilmon asked. He looked over and saw the mermaids on the rock who, at this point, looked confused and didn't know what to make of a huge fluffy dog appearing out of a portal with people and other creatures inside. "This is one of the universes in the cluster Izzy told us about, so it's possible. It's been a week since we all started searching and no one has reported back yet." He said. The pink haired woman rubbed her temples looking stressed. "Of all the people we could lose, why did it have to be one of The Elemental Four. This is the worst." She said. "Don't complain, Yoshino. Let's just look for Taylor and Sharkmon." He said.

Yes, these two were World For Us All field agents; Takato Matsuki and Yoshino Fujieda. Takato and Yoshino had arrived on the planet Aquallia. They started walking around and looking around.

It had indeed been a full 7 days since they started looking for Taylor in the cluster of universes to which they had traced her. They were beginning to worry whether they would ever find her.

In the nearby ocean, Taylor Glovion and her royal alternate universe counterpart, were swimming around playing tag. They were smiling and giggling. Sharkmon was swimming away from the both of them as they swam and chased after him. "You can't catch me! Hahaha!" Sharkmon said. "I'll admit that you've gotten faster, but I won't give up!" Taylor Glovion said before smiling with her eyes closed and letting out a brief giggle. The two Taylors kept swimming after the little Digimon and eventually, the goggles wearing Taylor grabbed Sharkmon's tail. "Tag! You're it!" She exclaimed. "Dooooh! You got me!" Sharkmon exclaimed. Sharkmon then started swimming after the two girls. After a little while of chasing after the two tween mermaids, Sharkmon was able to poke Taylor in the back. "Tag! Haha! Now you're it!" He exclaimed. Just as the two Taylors were about to chase Sharkmon, Sharkmon's stomach growled and he placed both of his front claws over it. "Tayloooor, I'm hungry!" Sharkmon whined. His stomach growled loudly again. Taylor grinned and giggled. "So, let me guess what you want for lunch. Hot Dogs?" Taylor said. Sharkmon looked surprised. "H-how did you know?! Do you have psychic powers!?" Sharkmon exclaimed. Taylor grabbed Sharkmon and held him in her arms and looked down at him lovingly before letting out a slight giggle. "No, silly. I just know you really well." She replied.

The alternate universe version of Taylor, the princess, started to look a little sad. "You two are such close companions. It is reminiscent of the bond my parents have with their Digimon partners." The princess said in a sad tone of voice. Taylor Glovion noticed Taylor Poseidon's now gloomy demeanor. With a sympathetic look on her face, she floated a little closer to her counterpart and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're wondering why there isn't a version of Sharkmon in your world…aren't you?" She observed. The aqualian mermaid princess hung her head down. "Quite right. When I see the quantity of merriment you and Sharkmon partake in together, I can't help but get a little jealous. I mean, your universe's version of my parents have the same Digimon as my universe's version, and our worlds are so similar in many ways. Yet…" The princess said. Sharkmon swam out of his partner's arms and into her counterpart's arms. "Well, you see, although there are two Taylors, there's only one of me." Sharkmon said. Princess Taylor looked confused. "What do you mean?" She asked. "Well…you see, I was created by a bunch of King Drasils from all over the multiverse to save the multiverse from Owarimon. You won't find a group of Sharkmon just swimming about in the Digital World like other species." Sharkmon said. The princess nodded. "Ah yes, I know." Taylor and Sharkmon had spent a week in Universe 319 already and this version of her family was well aware of hers and Sharkmon's mission. They had talked about it at length. However, the alternate universe royal version of Taylor didn't infer from this that there weren't other Sharkmon in existence. This would explain why only one of them had a Sharkmon.

Sharkmon's tummy growled again and Sharkmon made an unpleasant face while holding his claws over his tummy. He looked up at the water's surface above and grimaced with his eyes close. "Hot dogs. Hot dogs! I need…hot doooooooogs!" Sharkmon whined. The two Taylors started giggling simultaneously.

When the two tween mermaid girls made it back to the surface, they walked onto the beach and saw Takato, Yoshino, Guilmon and Lalamon waiting for them. Yoshino looked over at them briefly before looking away and doing a double take. She rubbed her eyes, not believing what she was seeing. "What in the world?! I think I'm seeing double!" Yoshino exclaimed. Then she remembered what Izzy said. Izzy explained that with an infinite number of universes, all possibilities, no matter how improbable, would be actualized somewhere in the vast sea of universes. This includes worlds evolving in similar, and even nearly identical ways. Ergo, there would be multiple different versions of the same person living in multiple different worlds. Lalamon floated over to the two. "Taylor! Sharkmon! We finally found you!" Lalamon exclaimed. Taylor's and Sharkmon's eyes lit up. "A Lalamon? Oh my gosh! I've always thought you were the most adorable out of all plant Digimon! Don't tell Naturemon I said that." Taylor exclaimed. Sharkmon tilted his head with a confused look on his face. He was now being carried in his partner's arms like a small pet. "Wahrahmon?" Sharkmon said, obviously mishearing the pronunciation of the pink budlike Digimon's name. Taylor smiled with her eyes closed and giggled. She looked down at her partner Digimon and raised an index finger. She was about to go into lecture mode.

"No, silly. Lalamon. Lalamon is a Rookie level plant Digimon of the Data attribute. Her usual digivolution line is Sunflowmon, Lilamon, and Lotusmon, although some Lilamons have become Rosemons. Digimon Researchers suggest that this is because Lalamon and Palmon share a very close relationship and have the nearest common ancestor, like humans and chimps being related to australopithecus. Although with intermingling of races like my Mom and Dad, that's bound to make evolutionary biologists' jobs, like, totally harder. Anyway, she belongs to the Wind Guardians and Nature Spirits fields and her most commonly used attacks are Seed Blast and Sing-A-Song. The former is self explanatory, but the latter is kind of cool. Lalamon sings the name of her attack rather than shouting it like Digimon usually do, and this puts the opponent to sleep! Digimon Researchers have yet to determine how the tiny yellow petals on top of its head allows it to fly. By all means, Lalamon's body should be too heavy to-" Taylor Glovion's long lecture was cut off by the pink haired Yoshino walking up behind Lalamon. "You talk more than my college professor." She said. Taylor gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her head sweatdroping a little. "Haha. Sorry about that. I get a little carried away sometimes." Taylor said. "Taylor plans on being a Digimon researcher someday, so she's got to fill her head with lots of facts about us Digi-Folk!" Sharkmon said.

Takato walked over with Guilmon and adjusted the goggles on his head. "Digimon Researcher huh? Interesting. I wish that had been a subject when I was your age. But when I was your age, Digimon was just considered an anime and game franchise. I later found out that Digimon were real, created by a group that called themselves 'The Monster Makers'. When they abandoned the project, they pitched the idea to Bandai." Takato said.

Guilmon tugged at his sleeves. "Takatomon, you and Yoshino are forgetting your manners." He said. Takato blushed and rubbed the back of his head while sweating a little. He was still just as awkward as when he was a kid. "Oh! I'm sorry! My name is Takato Matsuki and this is my partner Guilmon."

"I'm Yoshino Fujieda, and Lalamon is my partner."

"I guess you already know who we are." Sharkmon said.

"And I'm Princess Taylor Poseidon of the Posiedonic Dynasty. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

"Yep. Izzy informed us all about you. Well, you, your parents, your parents, Digimon. Boy, was I surprised to find out Martin's Dad has a Guilmon like me! But then I remembered what Izzy said about infinite universes spawning all possibilities and whatnot. It was kind of a complicated explanation." Takato said.

Taylor tilted her head, looking confused at the comment. "Complicated? I found it to be quite elementary. You see, any event with a non-zero probability and enough resources-" She was cut off by Yoshino again. "We should really get going. Kari instructed us to report back as soon as we found you" She said. Truthfully though, she didn't want to hear the child go off on another lecture. Taylor was obviously a smart child. In fact, Izzy once commented that she reminded him much of himself, to which Mimi Izumi then teased him saying that with the smarts and the goggles, Taylor could be Tai and Izzy's secret love child.

Sharkmon's stomach growled again. "Let's stop talking and start eating! I'm hungry! I can hear the hot dogs calling out to me!" Guilmon rubbed his belly a little. "I could go for a bite." Guilmon said. "But we have to report back to Mrs. Takaishi." Yoshino objected. "Come on, Yoshino. Lighten up. We'll only be here for a little while longer." Takato said, smiling nervously and waving his right hand up and down. Yoshino pursed her lips. Being a police officer made her a stickler for rules, although if she was honest with herself, she always played it by the book even when the Data Squad (or DATS) was in operation in her world.

"Come back to the castle. My servants shall prepare any dish you desire." Princess Taylor said.

So, Taylor, Princess Taylor, Sharkmon, Takato, Guilmon, Yoshino, and Lalamon all went back to the castle. Takato was eating a bean burrito. Yoshino ate a big shrimp plate and french fries (this version of Jessica, or Anastasia, wasn't opposed to eating seafood), while Taylor, Princess Taylor, and the Digimon all ate hot dogs. Sharkmon ate a whole plate of hot dogs in a matter of seconds. He went after the plate like a famine victim or a hyperactive puppy. Taylor looked embarrassed at Sharkmon's behavior. She put her hand over her face and said, "Sharkmon, you're eating at a castle in the presence of a princess, would you please stop eating all your meals like this? It's so embarrassing!" She objected. Princess Taylor smiled in her counterpart's direction. "I really don't mind, you know. I mean, he is a shark. Sharks don't typically nibble on their meals quietly." She said. Sharkmon smiled, feeling vindicated. It had been like this all week long. Taylor lived with the Poseidons and Sharkmon ate every meal like this. And every meal just happened to be hot dogs too. Sharkmon stood up on his hind legs and put both his front claws on his sides with a smug look on his face. "That's right, Taylor. I'm a shark, and we sharks go into feeding frenzies." He said.

Queen Anastasia and King Evander were also sitting at the table, and their Digimon accompanied them. "I'm of the same opinion as my daughter. Don't be so intimidated by our crowns. My time in the Digital World and my relationship with Evander has made me a pretty down to Earth person." Queen Anastasia said. Queen Anastasia looked down and then realized that some of the silverware on the table was out of alignment. Looking over to the other room, she shouted, "Ok, which of you has placed the salad fork above my soup bowl and my desert fork to the left of the bowl!?"

Everyone ate their meals and were satisfied. After the royal staff came to collect the empty plates, everyone got up from the table at the same time. Taylor looked over to Takato and Yoshino and said "Mr. Matsuki, Miss Fujieda, please allow me to go get dressed and grab my digivice before we leave." Taylor said, bowing. She suddenly realized that her counterpart's formal behavior was wearing off on her. Takato smiled and said "Well, of course. We can't have you running around World For Us All HQ half naked." He said. Queen Anastasia frowned. "While Aqualian dress may seem scantily by many standards on Earth, we ourselves consider our apparel to be quite adequate. Perhaps you humans could be accused of being overly clothed. I mean, really, is it necessary to cover anything but genitalia? Half naked! The nerve!" Takato's eyes widened and he blushed. He bowed before the queen, and clasped his hands together, and began apologizing profusely "You're so right! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to cause offense! Please forgive my cultural chauvinism, your highness!" Guilmon tilted his head in confusion and raised a claw to his face. "Cultur-.....what?"

Taylor Glovion giggled. She thought Takato was kind of cute when she first saw him, and his social awkwardness made him seem even cuter. But as attractive as she found this fellow gogglehead, she wasn't going to develop a crush on him or anything. She had made up her mind to wait patiently for a certain someone. "I'm a fish just waiting on a certain cat to stick his paws in the water and catch me." Taylor thought to herself.

Anastasia smiled, closed her eyes and nodded. "You're forgiven." She said.

Taylor and Princess Taylor went up to Princess Taylor's room. The room had two beds which the two identical mermaids slept on at night. Taylor reached over to grab her aquamarine shirt. She pulled it over her head and stuck her arms in the sleeves. "Princess Taylor…thank you for everything. I'm going to miss playing with you in the ocean." She said as she reached for her blue shorts. Princess Taylor frowned and lowered her head a little. "It was a pleasure. I do hope we can meet each other again someday." She said. The two girls had gotten quite attached to each other over the past week. Taylor felt like she had acquired a twin sister overnight. Taylor pulled her shorts up over her Aqualian loin cloth, which was actually skimpier than the usual skirt she wore. This one was an actual loin cloth, with a piece of cloth on the front and back to cover the parts that needed covering, and a string that went around her hips. Taylor walked over to her counterpart and placed a hand on her shoulder. Looking her in the eye and smiling, she said "I hope so too, but even if we don't, we'll be in each others' hearts forever."

Queen Anastasia and King Evander entered the room. They were close enough to hear what Taylor had said. "That's right. And when you get back to your universe, I hope you tell our counterparts that they raised a wonderful little girl." Queen Anastasia said. Taylor put her socks and shoes on. She looked around the room. "I wish there was something I could give you all to remember me by." She said. However, the only things she brought to this world were her clothes and digivice. "Let's take a picture!" Sharkmon suggested. "That's a fantastic idea!" Princess Taylor said.

Taylor, Princess Taylor, Sharkmon, the king and queen, and even Takato, Yoshino and their Digimon all got in front of a camera held by the royal photographer. "Say alternate universe cheese!" The photographer said. "Alternate universe cheese!" Everyone said in unison. The photographer snapped the picture.

Then everyone walked outside to the front of the castle. They were headed back in the direction of the Kommondomon Takato, Guilmon, Yoshino, and Lalamon had arrived in. Queen Anastasia, King Evander, Princess Taylor, and their Digimon followed them, planning on seeing them off once they got to their Kommondomon.

When they got to the Kommondomon on the beach, a mermaid jumped up out of the water, high into the air. She wasn't just any mermaid though. This mermaid's tail was completely covered in purple armor, and her breasts were covered by a green metallic bra-like piece of armor. She had long brown hair and red eyes. On her tummy were different glowing red mark patterns. While this metallic mermaid was in the middle of the air, she transformed her metallic mermaid tail into purple armor covered legs, with her private areas covered by a blue loin cloth. Her arms were also covered in purple and green armor.

She landed on the sand and stared into Taylor's eyes. "At last, I've found you, child of water." She said. Taylor instinctively grabbed her digivice as did Takato and Yoshino. Takato's digivice was a golden D-power with a red strap on top. Yoshino's Digivice was a pink Burst Mode IC Digivice. "Who are you?" Taylor asked. "And why are you so…metally? Are you a robot?" Sharkmon asked. The cyborg-like mermaid smirked. "I am a member of All For One World. I'm a field agent for All For One World just as your friends Takato and Yoshino are field agents for World For Us All. However, unlike them, I don't need a Digimon to fight my battles. Using a perfected version of the serum Rumiko Shinigaku took, I have become part Gizumon, part mermaid. With the power of the Red Stones coursing through my veins, I will crush you and prevent you from interfering with our goal! Oh, my name is Chelsea Sydney, by the way. Or…I guess I should now be called…ChelseaGizumon."

ChelseaGizumon's head transformed into a head that resembled MetalSeadramon. "That green haired woman's Digimon partner could digivolve all the way to mega. I can't wait to try out this new attack." ChelseaGizumon said as she was gathering energy inside of her sea dragon snout. Queen Anastasia's eyes went wide with shock. "Samantha. You….you killed her partner?" She said.

"River Of Power!" She shouted, firing the gathered energy at the group. Taylor, Sharkmon, Takato, Yoshino, Guilmon, and Lalamon all jumped out of the way of the attack. The beam of energy almost hit their Kommondomon but Kommondomon just barely evaded it. After the attack, ChelseaGizumon's face went back to normal.

"Why do you people want to destroy the entire multiverse anyway? What's your angle? What would it profit you if all universes but one were destroyed?" Taylor asked.

"That is a perfectly valid question." ChelseaGizumon began, "I think that you ought to at least know why I'm going to kill you and the other Elemental Four members. You see…" she was interrupted by a manly voice. "Hey, I think this monologue belongs to me." Everyone turned to see the blue grid coat wearing man - Morty Shin; the head of All For One World. Behind him was Owarimon. "Owarimon!" Taylor exclaimed. Sharkmon began growling like a dog who sensed his master was in danger. Morty Shin had appeared out of a portal on the back of a slow moving Kommondomon.

Morty Shin began to explain All For One World's motives. "You see, a couple of years ago, a scientist by the name of Morty Shin began working with a team of scientists to discover whether or not other universes really exist. Morty was a prodigy; the typical boy genius. He skipped many grades and graduated high school at the age of 14. At the age of 16, he had finished college and had gotten a doctorate in quantum physics. Now, it would take too long to explain how they did it, but after solving some complex mathematical equations, Morty was able to create a machine to open a portal to an alternate universe. Things were fine at first. In fact, Morty met one of his multiverse counterparts immediately upon entering the portal. Morty and his team shared their findings with their alternate universe counterparts and before long, they were traveling from universe to universe sharing their equations and helping people travel outside the confines of their own bubble universes." ChelseaGizumon looked up at him with a confused look on her face. "Why are you speaking in the third person?" She asked. Morty looked a little irritated but ignored the comment. "Well, yeah. I was getting to that. I am Morty Shin. I was ecstatic. I had a goal to unite all of the universes. However, wars soon broke out between universes. Why? Well, why do any wars break out between any two groups of people? Why do wars break out between countries? Between planets? Economic gain, territorial gain, revenge. Wars were fought between universes for all the primary reasons wars are usually fought. However, in these wars, entire universes had banded together against other universes. Can you even imagine the size of the armies? The size of the battlefields? Hundreds and even thousands of planets against hundreds and thousands of their counterparts. It would be bad enough if the death toll were soldiers, but no. Billions and billions of civillians perished. In my own universe, there is scarcely a planet left inhabited except for Earth, and even then, only a couple of small counties remain. Every member of my family is gone! I felt like it was my fault. I was the one who found a way to traverse the worlds. I made all these universes aware of each other. I realized that I had to make this right. I realized that the only way to stop the bloodshed was to get rid of all other universes."

"So your plan to stop people from dying is to kill all of them? That makes no sense!" Sharkmon objected.

"Yeah, to say that's counterproductive is more than an understatement." Taylor said.

"Silence!" Morty yelled. "Which would be worse? (1) For one universe with a population of trillions to survive and thrive, or (2) for every last living thing in existence to be wiped out? You think that's impossible? You think life would somehow find a way? You haven't seen the devastation I have seen! The only way to save the world is to ensure that no other world exists to threaten it. Granted, not every world knows how to travel to another, but it is only a matter of time. Most of my colleagues disagreed with my decision and are still traveling to different universes showing people how to escape their own bubbles. It's only a matter of time before a massive multiversal war breaks out that annihilates everything that breathes! That's the way things are! So long as multiple groups of people exist, there will always be conflict. It is in the nature of every intelligent species to hate and despise another. No matter how many sweet words about love and peace we like to preach, hate and conflict are inevitable as long as two or more people exist who want different things. I cannot stop war from occurring altogether, but I can at least make sure they're interplanetary at their largest. That, little girl, is my destiny. That, little girl, is why All For One World Exist. If you oppose me, know that you are in favor of innocent people dying."

Morty then held his hand out in Taylor's direction. "Unless…you and your friends join me. Once all other worlds are destroyed, you can move into mine. You can even bring your parents. How's that? Does that sound like a nice compromise, goggle girl?" Morty proposed. Taylor grit her teeth. "I'm insulted that you would ever think I'd join you. Besides, your plan is flawed even if it succeeds. The Mother Universe is always birthing new babies. It would only be a matter of time before everything you did is undone." Taylor argued. "You think I don't know that? But with Owarimon, I can destroy every universe as soon as it's born." Morty rebutted.

"How did you get your hands on the red stones? How did you even come to learn about them?" Takato asked. Morty scoffed. "I think we've talked enough. ChelseaGizumon, attack! Owarimon, you too!" Morty shouted. ChelseaGizumon lunged at Taylor at an unimaginable speed. She grabbed Taylor's neck and grasped it tightly. "Taylor!" Everyone exclaimed, looking in fear for the girl's safety. "How about we fight in the water where no one else can follow us?" CheseaGizumon said as she held Taylor's neck firmly. Taylor tried to free herself from this cyborg mermaid's grip, but she couldn't unclench her hands. In a flash, ChelseaGizumon turned her legs covered in purple armor into a purple metallic mermaid tail and propelled herself out to sea…with Taylor firmly in her grasp. "Taylor!" Sharkmon yelled as he watched his partner get yanked away by the enemy. Taylor's digivice began to glow.

"DIGIVOLUTION"

"Sharkmon digivolve to…Jawsmon!"

Jawsmon used his muscular legs to propel himself out to sea. Meanwhile the Digimon/mermaid hybrid formerly known as Chelsea Sydney swam deeper and deeper into the ocean. Taylor was trying to transform her legs into a mermaid tail and sprout gills so she could breathe, but she was so full of panic, she couldn't concentrate enough. "Darn it! I can't transform! I can't transform! I need to transform so I'll be able to breathe!" Taylor thought to herself as her assailant dragged her deeper and deeper into the Aqualian waters. She looked up and saw her Digimon partner coming after her. "Don't worry, Taylor! I'm coming for you!" Jawsmon shouted. The young brunette held her breath for as long as she could, but *gasp*, Taylor inhaled a large amount of water and lost consciousness! She was about to be a mermaid who experienced death by drowning. As Taylor lost consciousness, she thought about the situation's cruel irony. While in human form, mermaids needed air every bit as much as humans and other land dwelling life forms did. They could only breathe underwater once they assumed mermaid form and transformed their legs into tails, and grew gill slits on their necks.

Jawsmon finally caught up to ChelseaGizumon and gave her a big punch in the face. "That's MY mermaid! Go get your own!" Jawsmon shouted as he delivered a jaw shattering punch to the cyborg mermaid's face. Or, at least, it should have been jaw shattering. "Everything's going according to plan. The little girl was too panicked to transform. Without gills, she's as good as drowned. A mermaid who dies by drowning. Such an ironic twist of fate, don't you think?" ChelseaGizumon said. Jawsmon's eyes widened. He was so focused on retrieving Taylor that he hadn't even noticed she hadn't transformed. "Darn you! I have to act fast!" Jawsmon said, reaching out for Taylor, but ChelseaGizumon jerked Taylor away. "Oh, this reminds me of when I would taunt my younger siblings after I stole their toys." ChelseaGizumon taunted. Jawsmon tried to reach for his partner a couple more times, and both times ChelseaGizumon successfully jerked her away. "You'll have to be faster than that. She doesn't have much time left. And without this girl, you won't ever be able to become Harmonymon." ChelseaGizumon said.

Jawsmon lunged at the metal mermaid's arm - the one gripping Taylor by the neck and bit down hard on it. "Titanic Bite!" Jawsmon Shouted. His plan was to shock her into releasing her grip. Sadly, the attack had no effect. ChelseaGizumon frowned. "You know, I'm not really an evil person. I want you to know that I take no pleasure out of doing this, but like Morty said. If I don't, ALL life will end. Your little friend here is insignificant in the grand scheme of things." ChelseaGizumon said as Jawsmon bit down harder and harder on her arm. "I don't care about becoming Harmonymon. I just don't want to lose you, Taylor! You're my best friend! Please, hold on!" Jawsmon thought to himself. Jawsmon kept chewing on ChelseaGizumon's arm, but it was obvious that he would never break through the Gizumon armor coating it. Jawsmon started feeling despair. Several minutes had passed after Taylor lost consciousness. It might already be too late!

Then, he heard a voice - Three voices in unison actually - shout an attack name. "Grey Trident!" In a mere instant, MarineOmnimon was floating beside Jawsmon and had impaled ChelseaMermaidmon with a golden trident protruding from the WarGreymon head on its left arm! ChelseaGizumon's eyes went wide with shock. She opened her mouth, trying to scream from the pain of being impaled! At that moment, purple blood seeped out of her mouth and began filling the water! Her grip on Taylor was gone. "Jawsmon! Grab Taylor!" MarineOmnimon shouted. Jawsmon was so astonished at MarineOmnimon seeming to just appear out of thin air that he took a moment to recover. He nodded, said "Right" and grabbed Taylor. Jawsmon swam back to the surface, clutching the unconscious 11 year old up to his chest.

While Jawsmon was trying to retrieve his partner, Morty Shin caused the doors of the Kommondomon he was standing on to open. TomokoGizumon and BobGizumon stepped out of the Kommondomon. Takato looked at Guilmon and they both gave each other a knowing nod. Takato held up his D-power and the word "DIGIVOLUTION" scrolled across the screen.

"Guilmon digivolve to….Growlmon!"

Yoshino looked at Lalamon and held up her pink Digivice Burst. "Lalamon, you digivolve to!" Yoshino said. "Right!" Lalamon replied. A pink aura consisting of pink square shaped pixels surrounded Yoshino's hand. She placed her hand on top of her digivice while shouting "DNA Charge!" Then a light shot out of her digivice and enveloped Lalamon.

"Lalamon digivolve to….Sunflowmon!"

Growlmon ran over to TomokoGizumon and raised his arm. A blade appeared on Growlmon's arm and grew in a white light. "Dragon Slash!" Growlmon shouted while swinging the arm blade at TomokoGizumon. TomokoGizumon made a Gallantmon shield appear on her arm and in an instant and she used the shield to deflect the attack. Growlmon looked surprised. "But that's…" Growlmon began. TomokoGizumon smirked. "Familiar looking, isn't it? Yes, in one of these universes, I had the pleasure of absorbing a royal knight. I don't think I have to tell you which one." TomokoGizumon said. "Dragon Slash! Dragon Slash! Dragon Slash! Dragon Slash!" Growlmon shouted as he caused the blades on his arms to glow white and slashed at TomokoGizumon over and over. Growlmon then jumped back a few feet. "Pyro Blaster!" Growlmon shouted. A large stream of fire shot out of Growlmon's mouth. Unfortunately, this attack was deflected by the Gallantmon shield too. TomokoGizumon smirked. "Just give up. Takato's Growlmon of all Digimon should know just how strong this shield is. You'll never be able to break it." She said. "I wasn't trying to." Growlmon responded. At that moment, TomokoGizumon realized that Yoshino's Sunflowmon was nowhere to be seen. Sunflowmon had appeared behind TomokoGizumon! Growlmon's attacks were just a diversion! "Cactus Tail!" Sunflowmon shouted, waving her tail-like stalk, firing off her thorns. TomokoGizumon got hit with several large thorns that had shot out of Sunflowmon's tail. They all got embedded into Tomoko's lower back and thighs, parts not covered by Gizumon armor. Sunflowmon strategically fired her attack to actually cause damage. TomokoGizumon grunted in pain as she got hit.

TomokoGizumon turned around and looked at Sunflowmon angrily. She then opened her claw and a beam of yellowish white energy shot out of from it. "Giga Cannon!" She shouted. Sunflowmon got hit with the attack and was sent flying back 100 feet, screaming in pain all the way. Yoshino looked worried. "Sunflowmon! No!" She exclaimed. She ran over to Sunflowmon and helped her to sit up. Sunflowmon focused in TomokoGizumon's direction. "Sunshine Beam!" Sunflowmon shouted as the petals surrounding her face glowed white and then a blast of solar energy fire came out of her petals and face. TomokoGizumon jumped to the side to evade the energy blast.

"Giga Cannon!" TomokoGizumon shouted as she fired another powerful blast of energy from her metallic open claw. "Shark Body Ram!" Suddenly, Jawsmon appeared and knocked TomokoGizumon out of the way, causing the energy blast to go up into the air and end up hitting no one. Sunflowmon and Yoshino took a sigh of relief, knowing TomokoGizumon wasn't allowed to deal the finishing blow. "That was a close one." Sunflowmon said. "It sure was." Yoshino said. "I think Growlmon and I need to digivolve again." Sunflowmon said. Yoshino nodded and stood up. This time, Yoshino's whole body was covered in the pink square pixel aura. She crossed her arms and held her Digivice out. "DNA…" Yoshino shouted, holding her arm up high into the air and then bringing it back down onto the top of her digivice. "...Full Charge!"

"Sunflowmon digivolve to….Lilamon!"

Takato pulled a Blue Card out of the square satchel from around his waist. He slashed it through his golden D-Power. "Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution activate!" Takato's digivice had the word "MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION" scroll across its screen.

"Growlmon Matrix Digivolve to…..WarGrowlmon!"

WarGrowlmon and Lilamon faced TomokoGizumon.

"Atomic Blaster!" WarGrowlmon shouted as he fired energy beams from both of the gun ports on his chest.

"Lila Shower!" Lilamon shouted, sending countless slender beams from her leaflike fingers.

The attacks hit the target, but unfortunately, she had blocked with her shield again.

Jawsmon sat Taylor on the ground and started shaking her. "Taylor! Taylor! Wake up, Taylor! Please!" Jawsmon said. MarineOmnimon appeared behind the two and de-digivolved into Queen Anastasia, Agumon, and Gabumon. "That won't work. She needs to have the water pumped out of her lungs." Queen Anastasia said before getting down and checking her pulse. "She's still alive. But we have to act fast." Anastasia proceeded to perform CPR on Taylor.

BobGizumon ran up to Lilamon and WarGrowlmon, "Did you forget about me? Dark Side Attack!" BobGizumon shouted, firing dragonlike missiles at at the two. WarGrowlmon deflected the missiles with his big arm blades. Lilamon just dodged. "Dark Side Attack!" BobGizumon attacked again. "Grizzly Wing!" TomokoGizumon shouted, unleashing a couple of hundred bats out from a portal she created in front of her. WarGrowlmon deflected the missiles yet again, but as soon as the missiles were deflected, he was hit with the Grizzly Wing attack and took some damage.

"Atomic Blaster!" WarGrowlmon shouted as he fired energy beams from both of the gun ports on his chest.

"Lila Shower!" Lilamon shouted, sending countless slender beams from her leaflike fingers.

BobGizumon got hit with WarGrowlmon's attack and took a good amount of damage. TomokoGizumon just evaded the Lila Shower yet again.

Off to the side, Queen Anastasia had performed mouth to mouth resuscitation as well as chest compressions. Taylor spat out water and began coughing violently. She opened her eyes and slowly came to. "M-Mom…" Taylor said weakly, mistaking the queen for Jessica Glovion. Taylor sat up and suddenly realized, "Oh! That's right! I almost drowned! ChelseaGizumon! What-" Anastasia smiled. "Don't worry." She said. "We took care of her!" Anastasia's Gabumon said. "A little Grey Trident and now….she's sleeping with the fishes!" King Evander's Agumon said. Gabumon looked over at him and gave him a thumbs down while going "Boo!" Taylor giggled. Jawsmon grabbed Taylor and hugged her tightly. "I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE OK! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD AND WE'D NEVER PLAY TAG OR EAT HOT DOGS TOGETHER OR HAVE SWIMMING RACES AGAINST EACH OTHER EVER AGAIIIIN!" Jawsmon shouted while crying tears of joy. Taylor was flailing about in his arms. She could not breathe because her face was smooshed up against Jawsmon's pecks. "Aaah cnnnnt brrrrrth!" She exclaimed. "Umm…what's that?" Jawsmon asked. "Ahh sdd ahh cnnnt brrth!" Taylor exclaimed. "I still can't understand you." Jawsmon said. "I think she said she can't breathe." King Evander's Agumon said. Jawsmon untightened his squeeze on the girl and Taylor was able to get free. "You were suffocating me, you big lug!" Taylor fussed. Her angry expression turned to a gentle smile when she saw Jawsmon crying. "I'm ok….Jawsmon." She said.

Jawsmon let go of Taylor and the two of them turned to face the battle between TomokoGizumon and BobGizumon VS. WarGrowlmon and Lilamon. "Let's get rid of these guys." Taylor said, holding up her digivice. The word "DIGIVOLUTION" scrolled across her digivice's screen.

"Jawsmon digivolve to...WarJawsmon!"

WarJawsmon stood prepared for battle. "Let's do this!" WarJawsmon shouted. WarJawsmon was going to attack the two hybrids when Owarimon got in the way of his path. "Play with me some more…big boy." Owarimon said. Owarimon then began to glow and change shape! She transformed into a much older looking version of herself. This Owarimon appeared to be a teenage girl. WarJawsmon's eyes widened. "She digivolved! Now…she's at the champion level!"