That's right boys and girls, it's finally time, no more drama, no more messin around, it's finally time to face the final enemy! This is such a major event however, it couldn't all go into one part, so I've split it into 2, with the second part taking place later on. If you've been reading these, then you'll just have to wait for the best part, the part written and moderated by yours truly, but I digress. If this is a little difficult to keep up with, I'm sorry, I did my best to make it easy to read, but there's only so much I can do, especially since I participate in the rp too and don't like to keep people waiting too long for my posts. Do your best, I suppose!

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Catherine lifts her blue-green eyes to the ever-approaching castle as the caravan makes its way to their final destination. She flicks her eyes over to Uryx, who she is currently leaning on, tiredly. Her mind is duller than usual, muddled by the earlier combat, and still focused on the mystery of Uryx's earlier transformation. It's hard to put aside, for her, but she does so for the moment to ask, in a tired voice, "Do we have a plan? Or are we going to rush blindly in and die together?"

"Yes," Uryx says, smiling, not clarifying whether he meant he had a plan or they were rushing to their deaths. When they catch up to the wagon, Uryx reaches in with the hand not supporting Catherine and pulls out a piece of fruit and offers it to her, "You should probably eat and get your strength back up, then I'll teach you, Karen, Jex, and Badramon the sign language I invented so we can communicate in there without making noise. Stealth may be one of the elements vital to this mission's success."

Karen was sitting up in the wagon looking at the wood as she thinks about what happen to gaogamon. She slowly starts to shake at the fact he was destoryed and it was her falut

Catherine allows her blue-green eyes to linger on the fruit before they trail back to Uryx. "I don't think I could stomach that, right now," she says, quietly. She runs her fingers across the surface of the fruit, the other hand still grasping Uryx. "When it comes time to fight, I'll be more than able to. You know me. Just teach us now. It'll give us more time to have it cemented in our minds."

Wardamon walks silently, wings wraped around him, as he prepares for what will be the most difficult battle he will face. Cyberdramon still travels at the rear, ready to make himself useful when called upon.

"If you say so, but you should really try to eat SOMETHING, you're not looking so good..." Uryx says with a look of concern, "Anyway, you're right, no time like the present, especially since the future is looking particularly... busy..." And so Uryx teaches the sign language Ryu had invented to the team, giving the ability to talk while they're in the Dark Master's castle without sound.

"Nope, it's a plan of adjustment, we change the plan whenever something happens," Uryx explains, "For now, the plan consists of sneaking in and laying explosives all over the place, if something happens to change that, we alter the plan, no plan is perfect for what's about to happen, so we're using every plan." Uryx then thinks a little -that was kind of confusing...- to which Ryu responds -...Really? You should've let me explain it.- -No way!- Uryx replies fiercely, not willing to give Ryu ANY kind of control, Ryu just mental shrugs and says, -suit yourself...-

Karen slowly looks at them then turned back to her new blue and white digivice

Catherine stares at Uryx, not exactly understanding. "So we're not going after the Dark Master," she inquires, tilting her head to a side as she continues her stare, "we're just...laying explosives in the castle? Last I checked, the castle itself wasn't doing anything except being a castle. How will we keep the Dark Master in the castle so that he....gets smacked with rubble? What if he doesn't? At least he has no base of operations?"

Uryx hadn't really thought that far, "If we're not caught, then the castle will crush him, if we are caught, we forget the explosives and turn to plan B," at this he points in the sky where the MOSES was hovering a good way away, out of sight of the castle, but within its guns' range according to Abyss. "Unfortunately, you may be right about the Dark Master fleeing before we're done, guess we just have to hope for the best, eh?"

"Okay. Point taken, Uryx," Catherine responds slowly. Then her voice changes, and she sounds immensely stupid - perhaps mocking - as she says, "What if the Dark Master isn't even -there-?" A pause, and her voice is back to normal when she speaks, "I mean, we don't know his habits. What if the Castle is just a front for the Dark Master, and he has his own base away from the Digimon that serve him? At the very least, we'll probably be able to open the portals to our world from the Castle, but..."

Uryx considers this, then says, "If that's the case, then some of us would have to stay and watch the digital world even when the portals are reopened, waiting and watching for his return..." he said very quietly, so only Catherine would hear.

Catherine nods her head to what Uryx has said. "Sounds like a plan," she responds, her own tone soft. "Alright. But if he is there..." She trails off as her eyes unfocus, briefly, and she blinks, finally breaking her stare, "...I don't want to kill him. Strip away his armies, strip away the dark shards, strip away everything he's got, and he's just a kid who can't even defend himself." She lowers her gaze, looking Uryx dead in the eye, "I won't help murder someone defenseless, Uryx."

"Agreed," Uryx nods, looking her in the eyes too so she knows he's being sincere, "We just take away his toys and give him a time out."

"But if he's in the castle when we blow it up..." Catherine begins, her intense gaze not leaving his. She drags her hand to his shoulder, still for support, but squeezes it firmly. "I'm warning you. I'll do whatever is in my power to keep him from being killed."

Uryx is at a loss for words... his plan PHAILS before it had even begun, he realized that he didn't want to kill the Dark Master, not entirely, and that Cat would stand in the way before he could even if he did, but that's what the explosives were for, then a different idea came to him, "A distraction!" he says as he snaps his fingers, "The explosives can be used on one side of the castle, most of the minions will think we're attacking that side, while we go around the other side! Only the smartest of minions will see through the deception. The MOSES will be used to attack another different side of the castle a moment later when they begin to realize we're not at the first place, all the while we silently make our way to the Dark Master himself... if he's there, that is..." Uryx now smiles, happy that he had finally gotten an idea for a plan, for the longest time he'd been avoiding telling everyone that he hadn't the slightest idea what they were going to do, but now he did and it delighted him. He now got out his digivice and checked out what they knew of the geography as he began sorting out the details in his head.

Catherine relaxes slightly, leaning her head against Uryx's shoulder and closing her eyes as she did so. She had been expecting, possibly, a protestation from him, and possibly the loss of her own temper to him. She was thankful, however, that his mind had been forcably shoved into gear, and none of what she'd dreaded had come to pass. The biggest relief to her, however, is that she won't have to break her promise to stand with him forever. She doesn't voice this, instead sighing softly as they continue to walk, allowing Uryx to plot his clever plan in silence.

Karen slowly follows them but stays a distance since she wants to be by herself for the moment

Uryx decides that the best place to place the explosives would be the back door, the best place to have the MOSES blast would be the front door, and they should see if they could sneak in through the dungeon. The problem with this is Catherine and Lisa, would going in through the prison cause painful memories to resurface? He continued to think...


Later on:

Uryx had finalized his plans in his head and was ready to start things. He began by contacting Abyss, in the MOSES, "Alright, you ready for this? You have a very important job to do if this plan is going to succeed. What we're going to do is set off explosives at an entrance into the dungeons while you target the main entrance with the MOSES. Once we start the explosives, most of the Dark Master's minions will be preoccupied with that, thinking we're attacking that entrance, we sneak into the back door. A few moments later, when the minions will have had time to investigate our first distraction and noticed we're not there, you will fire at the front door, forcing them to investigate that, unaware that the real attack is coming from the only spot without explosions. Sound good?" "Alright guys," Uryx says to the digidestined around him, "Now's the time we've been preparing ourselves for, now's our time to stop the evil that is the Dark Master! Who wants to set up the explosives?"

Cyberdramon steps up, "I'll do it, if you trust me enough, that is."

"I would", Abyss replied, "but as you can see, getting this ship into position isn't going as fast as getting it to the location."

"Perfect!" Uryx says to Cyberdramon, -and if you die horribly it won't eat away at my conscience!- "The explosives are in the wagon, now if you'll look here at this map," and Uryx shows him the map on his digivice and zooms in toward the hole that was an entrance into the dungeon, "That's where you'll be setting them, and be careful when wiring the explosives, I want this to go off without a hitch, understood?"

Cyberdramon nods in agreement. "Uryx..." he says, "if it's any consolation, you have done an excellent job planning this assault. I commend you." Cyberdramon carefully but deftly picks up the explosives and is off like a flash.

Catherine's arm had never left Uryx's shoulder, although she'd grunted in frusteration as he'd turned around. Now she was just standing beside him, using him for support still, absolutely silent as Cyberdramon volunteers for a mission that could spell death. "When do you think," she utters, as she leaves, "he'll be back?" Her voice is soft, but carries a certain edge to it.

Lisa stared out towards the castle, "This is it, the final battle. I just hope I can be more useful..." she said, her expressions slightly solemn.

"Alright everyone," Uryx continues, "Now we get into position while Cyberdramon prepares the distraction. We set up near the back door, we'll need to leave the wagon, unfortunately, since Kuwagamon may give us away. If we're caught, we quickly and quietly dispatch whoever sees us, got it?"

Karen looks at her digivice before turning back to the others and thinking about the plan

"I'm in front right?" Abyss asked. "I can't wait to use these guns."

Squall rubs his new digizoid knuckles, anxious for battle.

"Unfortunately," Uryx says to Abyss through the comm, "You're the secondary distraction, when you see the explosives go off on the side, that's your cue to prepare the cannons, when you think the minions will have had time to investigate, you fire at the front door, distracting them further."

"I have a little something prepared to give you more time if you're interested." Abyss says mischeviously.

Karen slowly puts her digivice into her pocket before hearing the voice of her friend....gaogamon. He tells her to don't give up no matter how painful it is to lose a friend. She slowly nods to his voice before walking up to the others as herself again. "so...what will i be doing" she asked uryx with a calm facial expression

"Sure," Uryx replies, liking the sound of that, then he looks to Karen, "You're with the rest of us in the main attack force, since most of the minions will be distracted, a focused force should be able to break through to the Dark Master himself, don't you think?"

"Umm... Uryx, if you want, I'll protect the backside while Abyss is attacking," Lisa suggested.

"What do you mean?" Uryx asks Lisa, not quite understanding, "We're ALL attacking the back of the castle, once Cyberdramon and Abyss have prepared their respective distractions to the other entrances..."

"Well, I meant, I'll make sure you're all safe... or something," she said.

Uryx smiles at that, "I appreciate that, thank you, Lisa," -I take back all the horrible things I've said about you, either out loud or otherwise-

"Ok, so you just tell me where to go, I'll try and distract enough of them long enough," Lisa said.

"Gonna need a little more time to get this thing rolling, it seems the left-side thrusters are having a slight... malfunction, I've got Kakuwamons on the job, but it's not going well..." Abyss radios in. "I have to turn each one off individually, so they can get into them and remove whatever crap they find, and then trun them back on, so this thing doesn't fall out fo the sky... a lot of crap in the thrusters... metal fromt eh building wreckage and the like..."

"Actually, you'll be sticking with the rest of us," Uryx tells her as he starts to slow to a stop, the Kuwagamon and the wagon following suit, "Even pacifists can be useful, don't worry, this team has no weakest link," -except maybe Cyberdramon, but I don't like him anyway- Uryx then turns to Kuwagamon, "Thank you for all you've done for us, words fail to describe my appreciation, you're free to go now," The Kuwagamon sneezes and walks away, in the general direction of the forest. Uryx then addresses the whole team, "This is it everyone, time for the battle to begin." Uryx then speaks into the comm to Abyss, "As long as you get things ready when we need them, do your best alright?" Now Uryx addresses Catherine, "You think you're up for this?"

Lisa nods, 'I hope he's not setting me out as bait to die...' she thought.

"Gotcha, the thrusters are free, and we're moving into position." Abyss says over hte com, "We're priming the guns now."

Catherine lifts her head and forces a smile, snapping back to reality. Her mind has been disconnected, it seems, and as she tosses her hair and nods vigorously, miraculously no cracks show in her carefully constructed facade of control. "I have to be," she responds, coolly. "There's no other choice," Her blue-green eyes shift, ever-so-slightly, so that her smile becomes genuine as she twirls her digivice between her fingers somewhat tiredly. "I have no intention of not seeing this through. Let's do it."

The thrusters on the left side flare, and a stream of ionized thrust flows smoothly from the engines, signaling that they are working properly. MOSES begins to turn around and face broadside to the castle.

Uryx nods to her and smiles reassuringly, now he starts walking a new course, one that goes around to the back of the castle, he was careful to make sure that the team's path stays out of sight of the patrols around the castle.

Karen slowly pulls out her digivice and spins it rapidly for a second before sliping it back into her back pocket and slowly nodding to what the others had just said

Catherine, obediently, is following in Uryx's wake, her eyes keenly staring at the ground. She is, however, on a high level of alert, straining to be perfectly aware of any critterbeastie that would attempt ambush on the party.

A Black digimon with blond hair and in a intresting armor type was hiding in the shadows as the tamers were checking to see if their path would get them away from the guards, the digimon smirks as he disappers into the shadows once again and soon a black twister came from the shadows and straight at the tammers

-GET BACK!- Ryu shouts in Uryx's head, and Uryx responded by stopping, stopping Catherine and anyone behind him as well as the twister misses by a scant few centimeters.

Catherine stops as Uryx does, one of her hands firmly gripping the hilt of her blade, the other holding her digivice. Her blue-green eyes lift and follow the twister as it screams across the area they would've just passed.

Abyss sees the twister from the command bridge, "So it has begun?" he thinks, "And so shall it end... some way, some how... this is the final fight."

Lisa looks around, and quickly pulls out a card and her D-Arc, "Lets get ready," she said.

Karen jumped back as she saw the twister and slowly pulls out her D-teminal for whats about to happen

Griever warps to his flaremon form. Squall stands ready near the digimon.

Abyss turns to the Kokuwamon beside him, "I want you to get that point laser ready... this ship is worth more than just a surprise attack... as if something this big could ever be a surprise..."
The Kokuwamon presses a few buttons and manipulates some icons on a touch screen, "All ready sir, point laser on and at 50% power capacity, which will leave us with enough energy for pulsed attacks."
"Good, good." Abyss smiled.

Uryx prepares to spirit evolve, "Remember guys, make this quick and quiet, we can't afford to give away our position," Uryx had accidently left his comm on, so Abyss heard too.

"Keep the laser powered, just in case." Abyss told the Kokuwamon. "WE don't know what the Dark Master has in his arsenal, and we need to be prepared."

"This could ruin all of our chances at a sneak attack, we should try and evade," Lisa said.

The twister slashes at the wall and continues to spin rapidly in the sky until it slowly slows down and the digimon in the twister is revealed. The digimon slowly flies from the air and towards the ground and slowly raises his left hand. “my name is blackwargreymon...and I will destroy anyone who gets in the way of the master....you should be grateful that you got me as a opponent.....I don't like to torture my opponents before their death....now show me your strength" said blackwargreymon as he moves his arm towards the left and the ground now had slash marks. “that was only a sample of my strength…now prepare to die”

Catherine hums softly to herself as she pointlessly flips her sunglasses down, obscuring her gaze. "There's no way in hell we can," she says, somewhat cheerfully, directed towards Lisa as she jauntily grins to herself, "Let's make this quick and quiet. Execute: Fusion Spirit Evolution!" Even as her form is shifting, rapidly, to that on Inannamon, she's reflecting on how stupid saying 'Execute: Fusion Spirit Evolution' is. Oh well.

Karen slowly pulls out her digivice and looks at the others as she would come in as back up

Uryx had fusion spirit evolved as well into Leohartmon, and was standing alongside Catherine, if they fought as one, they couldn't fail.

Lisa stopped, and put set her card in her pocket, away from her deck, 'Looks like Catherine and Uryx and Karen will do all the fighting, with me left in the dust,' Lisa thought sadly.

Abyss watches, and waits, then asks the Kokuwamon, "Is there... a hangar in this ship?"

Squall and Griever stand down, hoping the two fusion digimon could handle the corrupted digimon, reserving their strength for more taxing fights.

"Nice digivolutions....but i see that you don't have a lot of time to waste....so i will relese 80 precent of my full power to make this swift and painless...now.. Terra Force" said blackwargreymon as he makes a giant ball of darkness and soon throws it at uryx, catherine , karen and lisa

Inannamon flips forward sideways, performing a complex series of forward-twirling slashes in a kata, her feet sliding forward as she moved to dodge -underneath- the ball of darkness, but retain her forward slashing momentum. The blades of her Kusarigama stroke the ground as she nears it, her fingers lightly pushing herself away as soon as the ball is, hopefully, evaded.

Uryx watches the ball of darkness carefully, Uryx asks -what are the odds that I can slash through that,- Ryu chuckles, -even your girlfriend is smarter than that, you need to move, LIKE NOW!!!- Uryx can't just leave the others high and dry though, so he uses his body to push them to safety.

Karen transformed to Kyunamon and slowly uses her wings to fly into the air in order to dodge the attack

'At least he didn't leave me to die,' Lisa thought as she got ready to use anything that would tip the odds in the group's flavor.

"not bad but try this attack lassie" said blackwargreymon as he sharpens his claws and aims them at Inannamon as she fully evaded the ball

"What are you," Inannamon asks with a grin, "Scottish?" She becomes fully vertical again, but performs a half-split, one of her legs dragging out to the side as she focuses her momentum to that task. She twirls one of the Kama blades of her Kusarigama at her side, then lunges forward, moving her hand to take both blades by the grip, and plunge them into the BlackWarGreymon's shoulders, with little regard for his claws.

Uryx leaps into the air and brings his gunblades down into the ground to defend Catherine from BlackWarGreymon's claws, though not impeding her own attempt at an attack.

BlackWargreymon is able to slash the gunblades that uryx used to block the attack but it was weakened by a small amount because of the kama blades; however, because of the armor on his shoulders, the damage to his shoulders was lessened. Black Wargreymon jumps back and takes a stance. "Black twister" he said as he starts to spin rapidly and aims his claws at uryx and catherine, but mostly uryx.

"Uryx, move," hisses Catherine as she pulls herself back to a vertical position, swinging the Kusarigama over her head, holding it by the middle, then swiftly moving her hand forward to send both blades directly into the BlackWarGreymon's assumed front.

Uryx jumps back, prying his gunblades out of the ground as he complies with Cat's command, though he holds a defensive stance, even when in midair, just in case.

BlackWargreymon was struggling through Catherine’s attack but managed to put a crack on the blades as he was slowly spinning backwards towards a tree. BlackWarGreymon slowly gets up from the ground and looks at Lisa “you….why don’t you fight…..are you scared to die…..Terra Force” he said as he launches a much larger ball of darkness at Lisa at high speed

"Oh, no you don't!" Catherine says with something of a snap, accelerating her body towards BlackWarGreymon. "It's dishonourable to fight an unarmed opponent," she says, knowing that it's too late to move towards Lisa. Instead, she aims to collide with BlackWarGreymon, then pivot around to bring her twin kama blades through his neck, and into his skull.

Lisa looked calm at the ball of darkness, 'This... this might not bode well...' Lisa thought as she started to search through her deck in order to get the right card, and she eventually got it out before it hit the ground before her, causing her to fly backwards, Yumikibotamon tumbling a bit ahead of her.

Uryx runs over and catches Lisa, dropping his blades to do so, "Lisa! Stay with us, alright?"

Lisa nods, "Ok," Lisa says as she immediately runs over to Yumikibotamon, picking him up and holding the baby Digimon tight, before getting her own card that flew out of her hand.

Blackwargreymon was damaged from the kama blades that struck at his neck but he was still alive but was out of energy “I let my guard down and that cause my defeat….finish me” he said as he bows down to them and closes his eyes

Catherine pulls back slightly, then shakes her head, golden-hair stained with blood falling neatly about her, almost cloaklike. "I refuse to. It's dishonourable to us both." She stands there, still, then says, "Just go."

"This had better work..." Cyberdramon says to himself as he prepares to set off the explosives. The target had been lightly defended, easily overcome. All that is required now is to push in the little plunger... So, Cyberdramon shoves the plunger in and waits, quickly rewarded with a massive blast. Cyberdramon begins to make his way towards a random location, as not to lead any investigators that might see him to the others.

Uryx notices the explosion off in the distance, "That's our cue everyone, no more time to waste, let's move!" and he heads for the back entrance to the castle, that was now unprotected as the Knightmon patrolling it had gone to investigate the disturbance, he has now retrieved his gunblades, but does not bother to revert from Leohartmon.

Blackwargreymon disappered from sight and Karen picks up her scythe and runs towards the back entrance to the castle

Lisa continues to follow, 'Time for me to show my strength,' Lisa thinks as she continues to follow Uryx.

Catherine takes a last glance at her surroundings, not de-evolving herself, as she runs after Uryx as fast as she can in high-heels. She wonders, briefly, what awful god cursed her to wear high-heels, which she never liked, nor really took the time to learn to walk in.

Wardramon follows the others closely. He unfurls his wings and with a telltale "snikt" sound deploys his blades.

Uryx runs up to the door and slowly opens it, peeking inside, then he turns to the team, "From here on, we communicate with sign language," Uryx commands, using the sign language to say so.

Catherine merely nods absently to Uryx before glancing around their surroundings, running the chain of her Kusarigama through her fingers soundlessly. Her adrenaline high wasn't gone, which, fortunately for her, was likely a Good Thing (tm).

Karen nods as well as she slowly closes her eyes before opening them in order to see a few feet a head of the rest to notice anything strange like that first attack

Uryx saw that everyone had acknowledged him in some way and so entered the Dark Castle, doing his best to use all of his senses to detect any sign of an attack. Hopefully, everyone had taken the distraction, but that was FAR too much to hope for.

"Halt!" a voice calls from within. An armored figure stands before them in the darkness of the halls. "I am ChaosGallantmon, and it is my job to make sure you never see the light of day again!"

Catherine rolls her eyes to the sky as she moves to stand beside Uryx, her hands choking up on the grip on their kamas, her arms spreading to pull the chain taut. She remains silent, though, merely glaring at their new foe. -Geez,- she mentally reflects, -could this all get any more cliche?-

Lisa stops, "Guys, you go on, I'll hold ChaosGallantmon back as long as I can," Lisa told them as she got her deck and D-Arc ready.

"Lisa... don't get yourself killed for our sakes," Uryx says to her, "If I have the team move on, do you promise to meet back up with us, no matter what?"

Karen slowly move a head of Catherine and uryx "how about this time i'll fight him head on...you two are still tired from your last battle....while i'm at full strenght" said karen as she pulls out her scythe

Catherine growls softly, not liking this, but deciding to go with whatever Uryx decides.

"If you two are sure..." Wardramon says, "Then I'll stay with Catherine and Uryx...You have apoint, they are worn down..."

"Karen, no, this is my battle, go on with the others, they need all the strength they can have," Lisa tells her sternly.

"okay but do me this one favor....don't you die on us: she said as she slowly moves her sycthe from the left and aimes to run towards the door with the others

"Lisa!" Uryx says, "We're not going anywhere until you promise me, you will survive this!"

Squall and Griever prepare to follow Uryx. -This may be a bit more difficult but these two are battle warn and may need all the help they can get- thinks the large man.

"I'll try," Lisa tells Uryx, "I'll try and succeed," she tells him, with a smile, though he can't see it.

"That's not good enough," Uryx shakes his head, "I need a PROMISE!"

"Ok," Lisa tells him, "I PROMISE to survive," she tells him.

Catherine finally speaks, nodding her head. "Thank God," she intones, "I'm just glad you said that before ChaosGallantmon killed us all."

"Are you daft?! Fighting me with a child!?" ChaosGallantmon chuckles. "Fine. I admire your bravery...but I must say, your ignorance is apalling." ChaosGallantmon readies his Balmunc Lance, preparing to charge at a moments notice, using the fact they are fighting in a linear hallway to his advantage.

Uryx nodded, trusting her, despite all odds and Ryu's incessant yelling at how illogical this is. Uryx leads the team further into the castle, moving towards the middle, the most likely spot for a throne room, where he's certain he would find the Dark Master.

Karen slowly looks back at the location that lisa was at but then turns back to uryx and the others and slowly catches up with them

"I shall allow you the first attack, brave ones!" ChaosGallantmon says with an air of superiority in his voice. He steadies his demonic lance and prepare for what he EXPECTS to be a pathetic attampt at an attack.

Lisa shakes her head, "Oh, but I have a feeling that you should attack first," Lisa tells ChaosGallantmon, trying to supress a grin.

"Hm? So, you wish to die quickly, Is that it? Then I shall oblige you!" ChaosGallantmon charges with tremendus speed, lance forward, laughing diabolically.

"Foolish move," Lisa tells ChaosGallantmon, "Digi-Modify! Dream Daze activate!" Lisa shouts as a purple swirl wraps around ChaosGallantmon and Lisa runs to the other side of the room, while ChaosGallantmon is distracted.

The purple haze takes ChaosGallantmon by suprise. The sudden urge to sleep was great...but the will to kill is greater. Though he staves off sleep, ChaosGallantmon stumbles from sudden fatigue, driving his lance into the ground with a *thk!*.

"Ahhh, Digidestined!" Intoned a brilliant voice as Uryx, Wardramon, Catherine, Karen, Squall, and Griever all made their way into what appeared to be a large mess hall, which, until recently, was full of feasting Knightmon. The only being left in the room is one who appears ungodly handsome, with a voice that does his 'good looks' more than considerable justice. He's filling a goblet of wine, and taking a sip as he stares down the Digidestined. "I've been expecting you all," he says, calmly, taking another small sip. "Although I daresay that you all shan't be as mistreated by me as you are from my brothers. Drink with me if you will - I won't fight you. Instead, I have riddles. Although..." He scans each of the members of the party, and their faces, "I could be persuaded not to, if you but hand over one of your own to me....Male or female, I'm not picky."

Lisa starts to look through each of her cards while ChaosGallantmon is distracted, eventually grinning, notifying she found a good one, and takes it, waiting for ChaosGallantmon to come around again.

Catherine exhales sharply upon hearing that seductive voice. Involuntarily, she says, "My God. He's so...handsome." She's sorely tempted to step forward, but uses all of her considerable willpower to remain rooted beside Uryx.

ChaosGallantmon tries repeatedly to pull his lance out of the ground. Yank after yank, he cannot seem to free it, until one last pull send him staggaring backwards. Finally, after taking careful tally of what little dignity he has remaining, ChaosGallantmon readies another stroke of his lance, this time more mentally prepared. This one is tricky...

Uryx doesn't sit and drink but just watches him as Catherine swoons beside him. "How about the riddles, I refuse to sacrifice anyone here." -and even if we're wrong, we kick your ass.- Uryx thinks.

"Digi-Modify! Dream Barrier activate!" Lisa shouts as a purple barrier manages to cover in front of her, protecting her from another attack, 'I don't have many more choices. I really need to bring the fight to him,' Lisa thinks.

Karen looked at him and blushes for a bit before shaking her head -remember..it's what on the inside not the outside...so he's probally a giant worm beast...a sexy giant worm beast...what the hell is wrong with me?- " so your saying that if we just answer your riddle...we can just be on our way" said karen as she gives off a serious face.

ChaosGallantmon's lance slams hard into the barrier, fracturing it, but not quite breaking through. As silly as he is, he has the muscle to back it up. He hammers the barrier once more out of frustration, shattering it into a million shards of purple this time. "Girl...if you think you parlor tricks can keep your baby safe for much longer..you are sorely mistaken." ChaosGallantmon is serious this time. He brings his sheild foreward. The tringlular desgns begin to light up as energy focuses on the center of teh sheild. "Now, you taste my true might!"

"I'll go, Uryx," Catherine says with a gentle exhale, very quietly. -Ugh. Is that eagerness in my voice?- She shakes her head, blinking, trying to control her reeling mind, which wants nothing but to fawn over GranDracmon and forget Uryx entirely. "...Y-Yeah! Riddles!"

Squall stands, a confused look on his face. -What's with the ladies?- he thinks to himself.

Wardramon shakes his head vigorously. He can't help but feel...inferior to this...this...thing.

"We'll start easy, shall we?" GranDracmon says with a soft chuckle, looking at Squall directly. "My, you're a tall one, aren't you? Absolutely dreamy," he says, before clearing his throat. "A simple game of wordplay. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh. Which is out of place, my lovelies?"

Lisa grins, "I'm sorry ChaosGallantmon, but you're time is up," Lisa tells him as she pulls out a card and lets Yumikibotamon on the ground, ready to swipe it.

Uryx just stands there as he and Ryu debate the answer in his head.

Squall blanches. His brain definitely isn't his greatest attribute...at least not with riddles.

Catherine closes her eyes. With every word the GranDracmon is saying, she's falling deeper and deeper in love with it. "Wordplay, huh?" She struggles to say, finally. "That's usually double-meanings, isn't it, Uryx?"

The last triangle shape on the shield lights up. "Hahaha!! You've waited too late! Now you perish!!! Judecca Prison!!!!!" Bolts of shadows gather and pulsate in the center of the sheild. These bolts then burst forth, and in an erratic pattern , rapidly approaching Lisa and YukimiBotamon.

Uryx hears what Catherine says but is still no closer to the answer, "What do you think, Catherine? I've, never been so good at riddles I'd never before heard..." he asks her.

Karen slowly looks at Catherine and grandracmon -....okay we definitely need to get out of here or this will turn out like another episode of Jerry Springer-

Even the intellect of Echomon within Wardramon's own body is lost on this...THING's...riddle.

Lisa quickly swipes the card, "Digi-Modify! Miraculous Bio-Merge activate!" Lisa shouts as she's enveloped in a purple light, and it manages to absorb the attack and out comes a tall, white bipedal beast with two horns, fangs, and two arms with claws, "YumikiBeastmon!" the two shout together, as Lisa and Yumikibotamon get ready to fight, 'Now that I've completed my mission of helping the others by holding ChaosGallantmon off, I can fight back,' Lisa thinks.

"Wh-WHAT!? My most powerful attack...stopped by a child and a girl!?" ChaosGallantmon is taken aback. "Fine, then...I'll charge up even MORE power!!!" The tirangle patterns begin to ligh tagain, as he takes in energy.

"I don't think so," YumikiBeastmon roars, "Diablo Fire Slam!" YumikiBeastmon shouts as its hands are enveloped in flames and it charges ChaosGallantmon swinging the flaming hands at the Digimon.

Catherine sighs softly, then opens her eyes. She's compelled to move towards this -thing-, but stands her ground. "Fourth," she whispers to Uryx. "I...think."

"JUDECCA....PRISO---" ChaosGallantmon is cut off just as YukimiBeastmon's flaming fists come into contact with his head. Thown back by the sheer force of the blow, ChaosGallantmon slams into the wall, dropping his lance and shield, "No...n-no! I beg of you! Please! Spare me!!" ChaosGallantmon pleads with this fearsome foe.

GranDracmon lashes his tail, somewhat angrily. "Took you that long for an easy one? First, second, third, forth, fifth, sixth, seventh. Fourth has a dual meaning - the order in the numbers, and the verb. A shame you had to have a woman solve that for you? I thought my sex the fairer." He sounds offended.

"Leave now," Yumikibeastmon growls, "Leave now and never come back. If I see you trying to stop us again, it won't be pretty," Yumikibeastmon finishes as the two revert back into their normal forms, Lisa holding the Miraculous Bio-Merge card.

"Moving on," snaps the Grandracmon, his eyes affixed on Catherine, who has closed her eyes again. "'Until I am measured, I am not known. Yet how you miss me, When I have flown.' Unless you are tired of riddles and have decided whom to give to me? Your Wardramon is quite a pretty beast."

ChaosGallantmon gets up and flees in fear of his life. Fainty, he can be heard crying for his mother as he exits and runs off into the distance....

Squalls attention snaps. "Is it time?" he asks Uryx.

Lisa smiles, "You did great buddy," Lisa tells Yumikibotamon as she hugs her Digimon, then begins to sprint in the direction which the group went, hoping to get to where they're at soon.

Wardramon doesn't know whether to take that as a compliment or not... But this is no time for gender confusion!!

The Grandracmon lashes his tail again. "Quite," he snarls, annoyed that he may possibly not be able to enjoy ravishing one of the members of the party. "The last riddle. If you should answer it, I shall let you all pass unscathed."

"Uryx," Catherine feels compelled to repeat, "I'll stay. These riddles...aren't easy."

"sigh......at this rate we'll be defeated for our lack of mind" said karen as she closes her eyes

The Grandracmon strokes the heads attached to his front legs with his powerful hands, allowing his gaze to wander from member to member of the party. "'The rungs of a ten foot ladder attached to a ship are one foot apart. If the water is rising at the rate of a foot an hour, how long will it take until the water covers the ladder?'"

Lisa made it into the room, "I'm here-" she starts but looks at Grandracmon, unable but to feel somewhat... attracted to him... as if all other things didin't matter, nor did it matter that he was an enemy.

The Grandracmon doesn't repeat the riddle, but merely smiles - and winks - at Lisa.

"........" was all that karen could say because grandracmon was now starting to creep her out

Lisa practically falls from it, 'Oh my God... its... so amazing... I... don't care if he's an enemy...' Lisa thinks, taking a step forward unconsciously.

-The answer is obviously 10- says Ryu, to which Uryx replies -This is a riddle, the obvious answer is rarely the correct one, could you repeat it for me?- -'The rungs of a ten foot ladder attached to a ship are one foot apart. If the water is rising at the rate of a foot an hour, how long will it take until the water covers the ladder?' Since it's a 10 foot ladder, and the water rises at 1 foot per hour, it'll take 10 hours, right?- Ryu says, Uryx goes over the words, "HOLD ON! BOATS FLOAT, THAT LADDER'LL NEVER BE COVERED UNLESS THE SHIP SINKS!!!" he blurts out.

The Grandracmon slams his goblet down on the table. "That," he says, coldly, "is correct. It was even a trick riddle." He sighs deeply and stands, walking past the digidestined to leave. "You may pass unhindered. A good thing to see beings with the spark of intelligence." Oddly, he smiles at them as he passes, saying, before he turns a corner and disappears, "Goodluck, Digidestined."

".....okay...that was weird.....man i hate this castle more and more every second" said karen as she leans to the left and sweatdrops

Wardramon snarls beastially. His inner dragon was just screaming to rip that pompous bastard's head clean off and pour his wine down the hole.

Uryx silently agrees with Karen and then looks to Lisa, "I see you kept your promise, you alright? Well, whatever, we should keep going, we've wasted too much time already." And Uryx leads the team on.

Catherine exhales deeply, somehow having remained steadfast throughout the whole thing. Some part of her entertained the thought, as the Grandracmon walked past, to find him after the combat was over, but all those thoughts quickly dissipated when he turned the corner and left. She wanted, desperately, to hold Uryx's hand, but thought better than it, as she resumed following Uryx through the castle.

Squall shivered, still thinking about the way that digimon looked and spoke to him, but glad it was over.

Lisa snapped out of her staring of Grandracmon and managed to walk with the others, "Yeah, I finally have managed to make me and Yumikibotamon bio-merge," Lisa told them.