Chapter 32: Crushing The Head Of Leviamon

The Elemental Four, their Digimon, Zai, and Syn exited Lillithmon's castle. Syn was still a Nyaromon. She hopped out of Zai's arms and then looked back at the castle. She then started bouncing up and down. "Hey, Zai! Why don't you digivolve me back into Lillithmon? Maybe I can pretend to be the Demon Lord Lillithmon and infiltrate their ranks? Like a super cool spy! A sexy spy! Undercover Syn! Agent 666!" Syn said energetically before beginning to hum the tune of a famous spy movie. Zai sighed. She walked over and picked the little Nyaromon up. "That's a bad idea. You know digivice induced digivolutions are temporary, besides there's something to be said about the company you keep. The whole reason I Devlillis is because-" Zai was cut off by an annoyed Syn. "I know! I know! I was just kidding!" Syn said. Zai giggled, placing her hand up to her mouth with slightly folded in fingers. "Sorry, Syn. It can be hard to tell with you sometimes." Zai said.

Taylor pulled up the map on her D-Eco, which projected above the screen as a hologram. Red dots indicated the Demon Lord's location. Lillithmon's red dot was gone. It must have been because she had just been defeated. Taylor looked around at her friends and said, "There are 6 of these guys left. Who should we go after next?" Taylor asked.

"As one of their captives, I was in the perfect position to see who has who. Lillithmon had Syn and I captive, obviously. Leviamon has Jessica, Belphemon has Flora, Barbamon has Mario, and Beelzemon has Evander. Sadly, Morty Shin has Emily in his custody." Zai explained.

"But we should probably still take Daemon and Lucemon down. They're evil Digimon and they want to take over this Digital World." Litmon said.

The group was silent for a moment. started walking to the next destination. Dovemon looked at everyone with a very confused expression. "Why are we all just standing around here?" Dovemon asked. Taylor lowered her head and frowned. "I'm guessing we all want to go to the Demon Lord who has one of our parents. I said we shouldn't split up because the Demon Lords were too powerful to take on alone" Taylor said in a sad tone of voice. Drusilla looked over at Litmon and then at Taylor. She playfully bonked Taylor on the head with her umbrella. "Hey Goggle Girl, don't worry too much. If you had seen the battle Feroniamon had with Lillithmon, you wouldn't worry at all. Feroniamon took Lillithmon down without any effort at all." Drusilla said. Syn growled in Zai's arms looking angry. "Well, she had to put in a LITTLE bit of effort." Syn said. This Demon Lord's defeat was an assault on her pride. First, she got beaten down by Lillithmon AS a Lillithmon, and then Drusilla's partners overwhelmed the Demon Lord. Litmon poked Zai in the arm to get her attention. Litmon's body was completely made of fire. This would have hurt if not for Drusilla's special Devillian condition. "While I didn't have too much trouble defeating Lillithmon-" She was cut off by Syn who shouted "YES YOU DID!" Litmon sighed and then continued, "We can't be sure the other Demon Lords will go down that easily." Litmon finished.

Drusilla sighed. "Ok, so we don't split up and go after our own parents. We stay together. But how do we decide where to go?"

"We should go rescue Taylor's mom." Martin said, not wanting to vote for his own parents to avoid seeming selfish. Besides, he noticed that Taylor wasn't as consistently bubbly as she usually was. He missed seeing her like that. It's part of what made her so cute.

"But I'm sure she wants to save her dad just as much." Naturemon replied.

"I agree. We should rescue Taylor's mom." Emmett said.

"Maybe we should go rescue Mario." Dovemon said. Zai cleared her throat loudly to get everyone's attention. She smiled and said, "Well, seeing as I'm the only adult here, I have authority. I'll decide where we go next. We're going to rescue Jessica. Don't argue with me. My decision has been made." Zai said. Drusilla gave her mother a smile and a nod. Nice thinking. Assume a complete authoritarian position and then no one has to feel bad about voting for someone else's parent. No one seemed to be upset over Zai dictating the next location, but if any of them were, Zai would be the only "bad guy" in the group. There'd be no in-fighting because it wouldn't be any of the children's fault if they didn't go one way instead of another. Zai's "I'm an adult and you're children, so listen to me" plan was a smart move.

The group began walking in the direction of Leviamon's lair. While they were walking Drusilla was just slightly behind her mother. She picked up the pace so that she would be directly adjacent to her. She looked up at Zai and asked, "How did Syn digivolve during that fight? I was told you Millennials ditched your digivices before being hauled off?" Zai looked down and smiled. She took out her black D-Power from her pocket in addition to her tag and crest. "Well, the D-Smartphones aren't our digivices. They're just conduits that draw power from these. Mirei Mikagura built them for us back when Evander first became a Cyber Sleuth and we've used them ever since. They're more like Digivice proxies than actual digivices. Mirei said she got the idea from some other digidestined team from another world." Zai explained. Drusilla took the D-Power out of her mother's hands gently. "Wow! So this is what you used as a kid." She observed. Zai nodded. "Yep. I just happened to have my actual digivice on me because I was feeling nostalgic. Before the incident, I had it stored in a box in my top closet and I took it out to think about the adventures I had with Evander, Jessica, Mario, and Flora. Lillithmon never even knew I had it. Like you, she assumed the D-Smartphone was the digivice and not just a conduit for the real thing." Zai said.

After a while, the children made it to the location on their map. All they could see was a huge lake, which was surprising considering the rest of the Dark Area was bone dry! The lake was massive and the water looked pure. Below the water was a large castle that was visible from the surface. "Leviamon's lair is completely submerged. I guess Sharkmon and I will be going in alone after all." Taylor said as she was taking her shirt off. Martin placed his hand on Taylor's (now bare) shoulder. He had a concerned look on his face. "I don't like this. I don't want you going in there alone. Maybe we can coax him into coming out." Martin said. Taylor pulled her shorts off and then reached down to pull her shoes off. While she was busy stripping down to her tube top and loin cloth, she said to Martin, "I doubt that he can even hear us down there." Martin scowled and clenched his fists. "Then, go down there, say 'Hey Leviamon, what's up?' and then have him chase you until you're both back up here." Martin said. Taylor looked up at Martin and smiled. "That is a good plan."

Taylor then stood up, turned around to face the water, pulled her goggles over her eyes and dove down. Sharkmon followed after her. Once Taylor was under the water, she caused her legs to morph into a mermaid tail. "Taylor, I'm getting antsy! This is going to be one heck of a knock down drag out fight!" The little quadruped shark Digimon said as he swam right beside the tween mermaid as they descended deeper into the water. Taylor had a determined look on her face. "Yeah, I've got butterflies in my stomach." Taylor said. Sharkmon looked shocked. His eyes widened and he placed one of his claws up to his mouth. "B-B-B-B-BUTTERFLIES!? When did you eat those!? And what does that have to do with saving Jessica!?" Sharkmon exclaimed. Taylor began laughing. She wasn't really in a laughing mood, but Sharkmon's misunderstanding was so hilarious that it burst through the heavy feeling she had lingering over her soul. "Butterflies in the stomach is just an expression. It means I'm nervous." Taylor said. Sharkmon put his claw down, his expression returning to normal. "Oh! I see! Well, don't be nervous, Taylor! No one can beat us!" Sharkmon said. "Owarimon did." Taylor said. "I…was hoping you'd forgotten about that. Still, we have a pretty good track record of winning!" Sharkmon said. The goggle wearing mermaid grinned toward her partner and made a fist. "You got that right! I can't wait to see Tritonmon in action!" Taylor said.

The mermaid and the shark Digimon made it to the entrance of the castle. It was closed up like Lillithmon's was. "Open Sesame!" Sharkmon said while wiggling back and forth cheerfully. Nothing happened. Taylor floated in the middle of the water with her arms closed, an expression of perplexity coming across her face. "Well, that didn't work. What now?" Taylor thought aloud. Sharkmon was floating in front of her partner, closer to the lake bottom, a few inches below her tail. Sharkmon turned around and grinned. Then he turned back towards the castle door and shouted "PIZZA!" Nothing happened. Taylor reached into the satchel around her waist and brought out her digivice. "Well, maybe we just need to knock harder." She said.

"DIGIVOLUTION"

"Sharkmon digivolve to….Jawsmon!"

Jawsmon used his powerful and muscular legs to ram into the door. "Shark Body Ram!" He shouted. Jawsmon crashed into the door and made a hole. Taylor smiled and threw a fist up in the air. "Alright! Way to go, Jawsmon!" She cheered.

Taylor and Jawsmon swam through the castle. They were both looking around. They were not only trying to locate Leviamon, but they were also trying to be on the lookout for any enemy Digimon who might appear. Taylor didn't want her Digimon fighting anyone besides Leviamon. They had already spent some energy fighting a bunch of LadyDevimon earlier that day and she wanted her shark buddy to be able to give it his all. The place seemed pretty quiet. Taylor wondered whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. As they were swimming down halls looking for their enemy, Taylor decided it was a good idea to inform her digital partner about Leviamon. "Hey, Jawsmon. You ready for a lecture?" She asked. Jawsmon looked over and grinned. "Sure." Taylor began; "Well, not much is known about Leviamon as it rarely appears, so Digimon Researchers don't know much about him as they'd like. But what they do know is that Leviamon is a Mega level Digimon who even strikes fear in angel and evil king Digimon. They say his jaws are big enough to swallow the entire Digital World. His 'Biting Crush' attack can destroy everything in his path with his massive jaws, and his 'Tail Strike' pulverizes his enemies with his long tail. His Thunder Breath shoots a stream of fire, but since we're underwater, that attack shouldn't be a problem." Taylor explained. Jawsmon was silent for a moment. "Good thing I won't be fighting this thing alone." Jawsmon said, remembering back to their plan to lure Leviamon out onto land.

They eventually pushed through a large door. They came into an area that looked like a large Roman colosseum, except it was indoors. The walls of the arena were decorated with Leviamon's crest. Taylor's eyes lit up as she saw her mother, Jessica Glovion, chained to a wall. She was in her mermaid form, and two shackles held her arm and one shackle held her tail. "Mom!" Taylor exclaimed as she began swimming towards her captive mother. Jessica noticed Taylor coming. "No! Stay back!" Jessica shouted. At that moment, a gigantic set of jaws came flying down from the ceiling, swallowing up Taylor and Jawsmon whole! It was Leviamon! Jessica watched in horror as her daughter and partner Digimon were swallowed by this evil beast. It didn't seem real to her. "TAYLOR!!!!!!!!!!" She screamed bloody murder. Leviamon circled around the arena like a shark circling a tank. He seemed to be laughing. Jessica began to weep, believing her daughter to be dead. But then….Leviamon seemed to be in discomfort. He moaned before rearing up on his hind legs and vomiting! Taylor and WarJawsmon came flying out of Leviamon's mouth along with some other things Leviamon had eaten that day. Jawsmon had digivolved again while in the belly of the beast and attacked Leviamon from the inside, causing him to have a nasty case of upset stomach. The mermaid and her weapon carrying shark friend seemed quite disgusted at all the vomit that floated in the water around them. "Yuck! Gross!" Taylor exclaimed. Jessica seemed relieved. They were ok! But still…would they remain that way. "My baby…" She said softly.

Leviamon came back down on all fours and growled at Taylor and WarJawsmon. Leviamon was absolutely huge! Taylor and WarJawsmon seemed like toys compared to the gargantuan gator! Taylor held up her digivice. "I don't appreciate being seafood! Let's show this crappy croc what Tritonmon can do!" Taylor said. WarJawsmon looked back at her and grinned.

"MEGA DIGIVOLUTION"

"WarJawsmon mega digivolve to….Tritonmon!"

Tritonmon floated in the water beside her partner. Jessica looked surprised. "Tritonon?" She said. Taylor looked back at her mother and grinned while giving her a thumbs up. "Yep. Sharkmon's mega form." Taylor said. Tritonmon turned around and winked while giving a thumbs up and grinning. Jessica blushed and some nose trickled out of her nose into the water. "He's a hunk!" Jessica exclaimed. Taylor looked mortified. "Mom!" She said in a scolding tone. "Well, it's true." Jessica said as blood continued to trickle out of her nose. "A hunk of what?" Tritonmon said, looking confused. Taylor giggled nervously and turned Tritonmon around to face Leviamon. "Never mind her. You just fight Leviamon while I free my Mom. If you haven't destroyed him by the time she's freed, we'll lure him out on land where we can ALL fight him." Taylor said.

Leviamon lunged at Tritonmon and tried to bite down on him with his powerful jaws! But Tritonmon caught Leviamon's jaws in both of his hands and held up his upper set of teeth with both of his hands, and his lower set of teeth with his sharklike merman tail. Tritonmon grunted and said, "You've got some really nasty breath! Have you ever heard of a toothbrush!?" Tritonmon struggled to keep the mighty crocodile like beast from chomping him in half. Taylor swam over and placed her hands on the chains. "Taylor, what are you doing?" Jessica asked. Taylor was concentrating. "I've learned some new tricks recently, Mom." Taylor said. In a moment, the chain holding Jessica's right arm was completely frozen solid. Jessica looked surprised. "Hydrocryokenesis?! Taylor, when did you-" Taylor cut her off, "Later, Mom. Just let me concentrate." She placed her hands back over the chain and concentrated on heating up the water molecules. In a matter of moments, the water surrounding the chain came to a boil and eventually got so hot that the chains glowed red. Taylor then froze the chain again, and then heated them up again. Jessica was amazed again. "Hydrothermalkenesis as well? You've got some uncommon mermaid abilities, my daughter!" Jessica said. Taylor broke the chain holding her right hand. "Yeah, speaking of abilities, why are you not going all goddess of the seas on Leviamon?" Taylor asked. Jessica pointed to a red ring around her neck. It was similar to the one Morty had put around Anubismon. "All For One World's leader put this red ring around my neck to suppress my powers. I couldn't even make a goldfish do a backflip as I am now." Jessica explained.

Tritonmon continued to struggle against Leviamon's jaws. There wasn't anything he could do while his hands and tail were preoccupied. Taylor looked back to see how Tritonmon was doing, and she saw that he wasn't doing very well at all. Jessica's hands were freed. There was only one chain left to undo; the one shackled around her tail. Taylor was torn. She looked down at the chain shackling her mother's mermaid tail and then back at Tritonmon. "Tritonmon's in trouble. What should I do?" Taylor thought. Then an unwelcomed thought occurred; she could sing. Oh how she hated singing in front of people. It's not that she minded being the center of attention, or that she was worried she sounded bad. But there was something about singing that made her very uncomfortable. But she valued her friend more than she valued her comfort zone. Taylor decided that she would free her mother's final chain after she got Tritonmon out of the tight spot he was in. She swam up to the side of Tritonmon's head. "I don't see any ears. Hopefully he can hear." Taylor said. Jessica looked shocked that Jessica would get so close to this dangerous and evil Digimon. "Taylor! What are you doing!? Get away from that thing!" Jessica shouted. Taylor shot her mom a glare. "Hush! I know what I'm doing!" Jessica made an angry face and had one of those red anime vein things pulse on her head. "Don't you tell me to 'hush' young lady!"

Taylor clasped her hands and closed her eyes and began slowly vocalizing the tune of T.M Revolution's "Invoke". Her voice was just as soothing as the previous two times. Tritonmon's face looked peaceful. There wasn't a prettier voice in the entire multiverse. The force of Leviamon's grip decreased significantly. Leviamon was beginning to relax! In the moment that he eased the pressure he was putting on Leviamon, Tritonmon used his merman tail to propel himself away from Leviamon's jaws. "Great job, Taylor!" Tritonmon said. Taylor stopped singing and her face turned red. She squinted and gripped both fists against her chest. "Ahh!" She squealed bashfully. Jessica was amazed once more. "Siren Singing! No one in my family has had that ability for generations!" Jessica said softly.

"Conch Crusher!" Tritonmon said before blowing into his conch shell which subsequently sent out sonic waves at the opponent. It sounded like a trumpet when he blew into it. Leviamon got hit with the attack and grunted in pain. He reared back as he was hit with the sonic waves. "Biting Crush!" Leviamon yelled as it tried to bite down on Tritonmon again. Tritonmon was ready though, "Conch Lightning!" He shouted before blowing into his conch shell again. This time, a different sounding tune was played, and lightning bolts shot out of the conch shell, blasting Leviamon in the roof of the mouth and badly scorching it. Leviamon roared in pain as the roof of his mouth was fried! Leviamon took several steps back.

Meanwhile, Taylor swam back over to her mother and began freezing and heating the final chain. "Taylor, when did you learn that you could do all of this?" Jessica asked. "I don't mean to be rude, but now's really not the time." Taylor said. Jessica sighed. "You're right. But please tell me later." She said.

Leviamon quickly span around and slammed Tritonmon into the wall with his tails while shouting "Tail Strike!" Tritonmon hit the wall so hard that he caused a small crater in it. He groaned and held his head. "Ah, that's not going to feel good in the morning." He said. Tritonmon got back up and swam upwards. "Hey, ugly! Take this! Merman Rolling!" Tritonmon shouted before curling up into a ball. When Tritonmon curled up into a ball, the shark fin on his upper back and on the back of his merman tail turned into glowing white sharp blades. He then rolled across Leviamon's head and back absolutely tearing it up! This attack was like a much, much, MUCH more powerful version of Sharkmon's "Rolling Shark". Leviamon let out a loud roar of pain as the sharklike merman shredded his body from head to tail. Leviamon was in bad shape. He turned around and tried to quickly clamp down on the shark merman. Tritonmon then took his chance while Leviamon's mouth was open to dive into his mouth via his "Merman Rocket!" attack. Once inside, Tritonmon tried to use his Merman Rolling attack to destroy Leviamon from the inside, but Leviamon reacted quickly! "Thunder Breath!" He shouted! From deep inside, he caused huge bolts of lightning to shoot out of his belly, hitting Tritonmon and sending him flying out of Leviamon's mouth! Tritonmon slammed into the wall having taken some severe burn damage!

Tritonmon groaned in pain as he laid down on the colosseum floor. Leviamon put his front foot on Tritonmon's chest and growled at him. Taylor was able to get Jessica free, and the two mermaids watched as Tritonmon, who previously had Leviamon on the ropes, was now badly damaged and on the precipice of defeat. Taylor looked in shock! How could this have happened? It looked as though they were about to win! How could the tides of battle have turned so quickly? "Tritonmon! Do something! Get up! He's about to destroy you!" Taylor called out. Tritonmon tried to lift Leviamon's foot off of him, but Leviamon was too strong! Tritonmon then looked to his right and saw his conch shell lying there. He tried to reach out for it, but it was just slightly out of reach! Taylor knew she had do something, Taylor swam over to the conch shell quickly. "Tritonmon! Catch!" She shouted before she used her mermaid tail to kick it into Tritomon's hands. Tritonmon caught the conch shell in his left hand and grinned. He wasted no time blowing into it and causing a trumpet like sound. Lightning blasted out of the conch shell and hit Leviamon directly in the face! Leviamon roared in pain again and reared back. He then looked down at Taylor and tried to smack her with his huge front claw! However, Tritonmon pushed Taylor out of the way and was himself hit by Leviamon! Tritonmon was knocked into the wall just behind Jessica! He hit his head and nearly lost consciousness!

Tritonmon groaned as he slowly got back up. He stared at his adversary. Leviamon was definitely taking damage from his attacks, and he wasn't very fast. He was big and slow, and his tough hide wasn't a problem for Tritonmon to rip through. However, Leviamon had lots of raw power on his side. If Leviamon was able to get one more attack in, Tritonmon knew he'd be done for. He knew he had to finish this quickly. Tritonmon closed his eyes and clutched his clam shell tightly. He focused all of his energy into the conch shell before throwing it in Leviamon's direction! The conch shell suddenly grew in size exponentially! It was so large that it cast a shadow over Leviamon's entire body! Taylor and Jessica gasped as they saw Tritonmon's dinky little shell become as big of a house and float above Leviamon. "What in the world!?" Jessica exclaimed! "That's one big shell!" Taylor exclaimed. Tritonmon then raised his hands out with a determined look on his face. "Wrath….of….TRITON!!!!!" He shouted. Suddenly, hundreds and hundreds of lightning bolts blasted out of the giant conch shell above Leviamon! Leviamon roared in pain as the barrage of massive lightning bolts fried him.

The two mermaids watched as Tritonmon defeated one of The Seven Demon Lords! "He's so….powerful!" Taylor said in amazement. "And he's a hunk." Jessica added. Taylor got one of those popping anime vein things on her head along with an annoyed look. "If you could stop having the hots for my Digimon, that'd be great." Taylor said.

Leviamon yelled in pain as he was reduced to digital particles! Tritonmon then fell limp. That final attack used up every bit of energy he had! Tritonomon de-digivolved to Nibblemon. Taylor swam over to her partner Digimon and picked him up. He was about the size of a soccer ball, so she was able to hold him in his hands. Nibblemon had a round body like a soccer ball which was also his head. He had sharp shark teeth and a shark fin on the back of his head. Taylor hugged her partner tightly. "Oh, Nibblemon! You were great out there! You were so powerful and awesome! You're the coolest Digimon partner a digidestined or tamer could ever have!" Taylor said as she swayed back and forth, hugging her partner. "And you were a hunk too." Jessica interjected, appearing from right behind Taylor and lifting up her index finger with a smile. This turned Taylor's celebratory expression into an annoyed one. "Mother." Taylor said in an annoyed tone.

Nibblemon then had a concerned expression on his face. Taylor looked concerned that he looked concerned. She tilted her head a bit and asked, "Nibblemon, what's wrong?" Nibblemon asked, "Where are your mom's Digimon?" Jessica was so enamored by her daughter's Digimon and the epic battle between them that she had forgotten about her poor partners. "Oh yeah! That's right! They're being held in an oxygen chamber somewhere in this castle. Since they're not capable of breathing underwater like you." Jessica responded.

Taylor turned and said, "I'll go look for them." And she shot off like a rocket. Jessica slapped the side of her head. "Speed Swimming!? How many mermaid abilities does this girl have!? Like, these are literally some of the most uncommon abilities on Aqualia! What the flip!?" Jessica exclaimed.

Taylor and Nibblemon sped through the castle, going through room after room at an incredibly high speed, looking for the oxygen chamber containing Jessica's partner Digimon. They were covering a lot of ground in a very short amount of time due to Taylor's Speed Swimming ability. Nibblemon was having fun being carried by his partner at such a high speed. As they were speeding down one of the castle hallways, he let out a loud "WEEEEEE!!!!" with a big grin on his face. Taylor checked one of the rooms, "Nothing here." She said before leaving the room and heading into another. She opened yet another door, finding nothing and no one. "Nothing here." Taylor said before closing the door, leaving the room, and heading into another. Taylor and Nibblemon checked several rooms in Leviamon's castle. Eventually, they entered what looked to be a library.

Taylor's eyes lit up as she saw the libraries. "Books! There must be so much information on the Demon Lords and the Dark Area in here! If I can get this information in my hands, I might be able to write a thesis, submit it to the Community Of Digimon Research at Stanford and get a nobel prize! There's still so much about this place that's unknown, uncovering new information is bound to get me a Nobel! And I'm only 11 years old and haven't even begun my scientific career yet! Boy, a Nobel at this age would get people to recognize me as the prodigy I am!" Taylor rambled enthusiastically. She was so enamored by the books that she dropped Nibblemon, swam over to one of the shelves, and started flipping through one of the books. "There must be so much information on Digimon and the Dark Area in here!" Taylor said as she flipped through it. Her enthusiastic face went dour as she noticed that every page in the book was blank. "Blank?" Taylor wondered aloud. She grabbed another book and flipped through it. Blank. Taylor grabbed another book and found that it was blank too. Taylor quickly curled up into the fetal position and started sulking. "So much for finding information on the Dark Area no Digimon researcher knows about." She said in a sad tone.

Nibblemon bounced over to the sulking tween mermaid. "Taylor? I think you may have overlooked something important." Nibblemon said. Taylor looked up, her face returning to an expression of overflowing enthusiasm. "You found a book that wasn't blank!?" Taylor guessed. Nibblemon grinned and said, "Better! I found your mom's Digimon!" Nibblemon said. Taylor had a look of realization come across her face. She was so fixated on the library that she kind of forgot about them! Taylor pushed herself off the floor with her hands and started looking around the room. She looked over and found a big round sphere with Gabumon, Leormon, and Pawnchessmon in it. It was a transparent globe with several oxygen tanks latched onto the outside and other pieces of tech. Taylor swam up and put her hands on the transparent sphere. The three Digimon were asleep. Taylor knocked on the sphere a couple of times. "Wakey, wakey! Jailbreak!" Taylor said. Gabumon, Leormon, and Pawnchessmon were still fast asleep. Taylor took in a very deep breath. "Oh, are you going to sing a wake up song with your Siren-" Nibblemon spoke but was cut off. Taylor let out a horrible shriek, startling her mom's Digimon awake. "I'M SORRY, GARGOMON! I'LL NEVER STEAL YOUR PANTS AGAIN!" Gabumon shouted. "Potatoes!" Leormon shouted as he awoke. "I did not play chess with that womon!" Pawnchessmon shouted. Taylor and Nibblemon sweat dropped. What in the world were these guys dreaming about?

Gabumon and the other two then realized that Taylor and Tritonmon were floating there. Gabumon raised his palm. "Hey! It's Taylor!" He said. Leormon meowed happily. "Taylor! You're here to rescue us, right?" Leormon asked. Taylor smiled and giggled. "Yep. And Leviamon is already fish bait thanks to this guy." Taylor replied, pointing to her partner with her thumb when she said "this guy." Gabumon, Leormon, and Pawnchessmon looked surprised. "Sharkmon? Is that you?" Gabumon asked. "You look different." Leormon observed. "That's right. I digivolved to Mega. But then I de-digivolved after the battle was over, so now I'm Nibblemon." He said.

Back outside, Martin, Drusilla, Zai, Emmett, and their Digimon looked down at the lake anxiously. "They've been in there too long. Do you think they're in trouble?" Martin asked. "If they are, there's nothing any of us can do about it." Zai replied.

Taylor placed her hand underneath her chin as was her habit when she started going into thought. "How are we going to get you out of here? I don't think you could hold your breath long enough for me to get you out even with my Speed Swimming. If only we had some artificial gills from Aqualia." Taylor wondered aloud. Leormon raised a paw and said, "Maybe you could just carry it out." Leormon said. Taylor giggled. "Oh, don't be silly, Leormon. A machine like this that's able to keep 3 Rookie level Digimon oxygenated is way too heavy for a little girl like me. Judging on the size, plus the added weight of you Digimon, Hmmm…..carry the 1….I would calculate that it should weigh a minimum of 150 pounds." Taylor said.

Jessica swam into the room to the delight of her Digimon. "There you are!" Jessica said, referring really to both her Digimon and her daughter. Taylor looked back at Jessica and looked concerned. "Mom, how are we going to get your airbreathing Digimon out of this castle? I can't come up with a strategy." Taylor asked. Jessica rubbed the back of her head. "I'm not even sure how the Demon Lords got them in here. We got separated once we got to this castle." She said. Taylor decided to try to enter the air bubble. She found, to her surprise, that she was able to phase through it! But because there was no water in the sphere, she plopped down on her side, which didn't feel too good. Taylor sat up and rubbed her right arm. She had fallen on it. Gabumon, Leormon, and Pawnchessmon quickly attended to her out of concern. "Taylor! Are you alright!?" Gabumon asked. "Did you break anything?!" Leormon asked. Taylor grunted a bit. "I'm fine." She said. There was a control panel inside the sphere. Taylor began typing away. A bunch of complicated words and symbols appeared on the screen. Leormon rubbed the back of his head with a nervous smile on his face. "Umm…Taylor? Now's not the time to be checking your e-mail." He said. Taylor didn't even hear him. She was focused on her task. "If my hunch is right…"

Suddenly, the sphere disappeared! It re-appeared outside of the lake directly adjacent to it. Taylor brought her goggles up over her head and giggled. "Oh yeah! Do I rock or what?!" She said. "Careful, if that head of yours get too big, those goggles won't fit." Gabumon teased. Martin, Drusilla, Zai, Emmett, and their Digimon looked surprised at the sight of Taylor and Jessica's partner Digimon suddenly appearing. "Whoa! What the what!?" Drusilla exclaimed. "They just appeared out of nowhere!" Naturemon exclaimed. Taylor focused and turned her mermaid tail back into legs. Then, Taylor and the Digimon exited the oxygenated spherical machine. Taylor looked proud of herself. "It was just a hunch, but I guessed that this thing had the ability to teleport. It looked a lot like a teleporting pod I saw in an Aqualian magazine a while back. I just needed to hack into the system and adjust the coordinates. It's really no big deal." Taylor said.

Martin ran up and gave Taylor a big hug. "I'm so glad you're safe!" He said cheerfully. Zai took a couple of steps forward, holding her Nyaromon in her arms. "What happened there. Where's Jessica?" Zai asked. Taylor folded her arms and smiled smugly. "My Digimon annihilated Leviamon, I freed Mom and her Digimon, and now there are only 5 Demon Lords left." Taylor explained.

Taylor resumed her mermaid form and dove down into the lake. She did leave her Mom down there after all. After Taylor and her mother had surfaced, they decided to set up camp for the night. The light was beginning to fade completely. Taylor was unable to dry off like she normally could, so she stayed in her tube top and aqualian loincloth a bit longer. So did Jessica for that matter. Jessica wasn't even aware of where the Demon Lords had put her clothes. They had forced her to assume mermaid form so that Leviamon could keep an eye on her.

Jessica looked up at the sky and noticed it was getting dark. "I can't believe there's a day and night cycle down here." Jessica said. "You'd think for a place called The Dark Area, this place would be completely dark all the time. The light we had doesn't seem to be coming from the sun. It's strange. There's so much about this area of the Digital World Digimon Researchers don't know much about. What's more, it isn't even our version of the Digital World. For all I know, the Dark Area in our Digital World is much different." Taylor said. Jessica smiled lovingly at her daughter. "Well…maybe that can be the subject of your research when you grow up to be a Digimon Researcher yourself." Jessica said.

Taylor smiled and giggled. Zai was pacing back and forth. She looked concerned. "We need to get something to eat, and find shelter. Our Digimon need food for energy to digivolve." Zai said. Syn's tummy growled. She bounced around on the hard rocky dirt ground. "Food! Food! Let's get some chickie nuggies!" Syn said. Naturemon was shivering. "It's getting cold." She said. Martin wrapped his arms around her. "You can have some of my body heat." He said. Naturemon looked over to see Taylor and Jessica sitting on the ground, facing each other, not seeming cold at all. "Aren't you guys cold?" She asked. Jessica shrugged. "We mermaids are used to cold temperatures. As long as it's not literally freezing, we're fine. Most of our kind live in the ocean all year round." Jessica explained.

Drusilla walked over to Taylor and sat down. She grinned and started elbowing her friend in the side. "Well then, in that case, I want you to sing Christmas carols next year in a two piece bikini." Drusilla teased. Taylor blushed. Honestly, the thought of singing in front of anyone at all was mortifying. "No, no, no!" She squealed. Drusilla grinned and chuckled. She loved giving her friend a hard time about this. She hadn't before, but now that she knew that Taylor's singing was so beautiful that it carried with it a mystical ability, it was something she could lovingly tease her over.

Zai seemed a little annoyed that no one else was focusing on their immediate needs. "What about food and shelter?" She said in an annoyed tone. It kind of reminded her of the old days, only Evander wasn't here to impatiently demand they move forward or complain about being bored. Drusilla frowned. "Mom, relax. We'll figure something out." Zai folded her arms. "Relax? We're in Digimon Hell! Literally everyone here but us is an evil Digimon banished here for doing horrible things! This includes the 5 remaining Demon Lords that are the most powerful of them all! Our Digimon need food and rest so they can protect us! This is the most dangerous situation we've ever been in!" Zai fussed. Drusilla sighed. "I know that, but you getting all pancky isn't helping."

Naturemon perked up. An idea occurred to her. "Guys! I'm like, literally a walking garden!" She exclaimed. Martin stopped embracing her and pulled back. He knew what she was thinking, "You want to feed us as Vineyardmon?" Naturemon smiled and nodded. Drusilla looked alarmed. She held her glove covered hand up. "Hold the phone, cat boy. Don't those things explode?" She asked. Naturemon gave Drusilla a thumbs up while winking. "Only if I want them to. My grapes can blow up my enemies or heal my allies." She explained. Martin looked over at Drusilla and smiled. "That's right. In fact, she saved my life with those grapes." Martin said.

"But digivolving takes energy, and hasn't Naturemon used up a lot of it already fighting Jokermon/Piedmon?" Nibblemon asked.

"Don't you worry, Nipplemon. Marty Hearty had some crackers in his pocket. I ate them and regained some of my strength." Naturemon said while giving Nibblemon a thumbs up. Nibblemon grinned, baring all of his sharp teeth. Then his smile turned into a look of offense. "Hey, did you just call me Nipplemon?"

"That's your name, isn't it?"

"It's Nibblemon! NiBBlemon!"

Naturemon clasped her hands together and smiled. "Oh! My bad!" Zai folded her arms. Her concerned look hadn't left. "But if you digivolve now, you may not have the strength to do it again when we need you to." She said. Taylor stood up and walked over to her clothes. She held them in her arms and turned to the others.

"I don't think Mirei intended for us to stay here until the job is finished. We should use our D-Ecos to go back to HQ and then return tomorrow." Taylor said. Taylor took her mother by the hand and then looked at Zai and the others. "Let's all hold onto one another while we Elemental Four activate our digivices." So they all held onto one another in one way or another. Taylor, Drusilla, Emmett, and Martin then used their digivices to take them back to World For Us All HQ.