Whew...So close! There's only about 4 more chapters left to go! This has been a wild ride. Anyways not as much action involved in this chapter...but hope you enjoy regardless.

RD is ©  Rainbowdragon
Kiya is ©  Kiya Drakon
all other characters are © me (Do not use without my permission)
Digimon is © Bandai
Enjoy!

---

Resolution


Taking a deep breath, Hackmon kept his grip tightly around one of RD's horns. His goggles helping him maintain his vision in the sudden fog. "I have a bad feeling about this. I think we're close to Examon's lair."


RD was cringing as he was staying in coredramon form for the time being, following the orb's directions he was actually absolutely terrified at the prospect of facing exemon. He already knew about how he was the leader of the dragon digimon and how his lance, which was actually a medeival style rocket launcher, could fire digiviruses with various effects. The thing that bugged him was exemon's sheer size. He guessed that most attacks simply bounced off of him


Hackmon's eyes narrowed a bit, as did Duke's who made a toothy grin "To the belly of the beast it seems..." He then blinked as he caught side of a red mountain, though it took him awhile to realize that what he was REALLY looking at was EXAMON himself. "Holy crap...'


RD jumped back several feet "Yeah...that's exemon alright, god's how do we do this" RD said staring at the immense digimon


Hackmon cringed, letting out a low growl "I guess...we just jump at him...Or at least try to reason with him."


RD blinked as he suddenly noticed something "Is he.....sleeping?"


Hackmon blinked, noting a sleep bubble coming out of that huge snout "I think...he's not too worried about us...We're that small a threat!?!"


"If we had been coming here with alphamon he'd be wide awake, as it stands, we're such a small force that I doubt we'll even wake him up if we did attack" RD said sighing "It's nuts to take him on alone the way we are now"


Hackmon sighed at that "This might not be such a bad thing!"


Delta looked at a loss for words, simply smiling "I think...I have an idea..." The black wolf commented.


RD tilted his head at that "At this point i'm all out of ideas so any idea would be great" He said looking at Delta.


Delta nodded a few times, rubbing his chin "If he's asleep then we have time for it...I think if we're quiet enough...we can build a few trenches around Examon...and pitfalls that we can hinder his movement with..."


Duke blinked "That would take one big hole..."


"He can fly though wouldn't he just fly out of there?" RD asked, skeptical. "Holes don't work on things with wings"


Delta blinked, rubbing his chin "Not if he believed he was in closed quarters...like a giant cave...or a building. He'd keep to his feet."


"Hrmm true" RD looked around, humming to himself "We are in an open area currently, I'm surprised he wasn't in a cave"


Delta nodded a bit "well...erm according to Duke...I have the power to create illusions...As long as he BELIEVES it's real...then it should work. Just get to digging and I'll set the illusion."


RD nodded as they got to work, only for Exemon to wake up right in the middle of their job. "Oh for, can't ANYTHING we do these days go right?!?"


Exemon simply watched them work "Your pitfalls are too shallow, even if I fell in I could simply jump out of them" Exemon stated bluntly, everyone stared at him, jaws hanging open.


Hackmon's jaw dropped, staring up at Examon in awe. He was taking this so casually "D-Did he just give us strategic advice?!?" He exclaimed, staring dumbfounded



Exemon sighed, rubbing the top of his head. "To take on a superior opponent every step in your strategy must be flawless, if even one step is done improperly the entire strategy falls apart" Exemon looked at the dark world. From his size he could see just how much of the world had been erased. "It's almost done." RD blinked as Exemon seemed to take particular interest in him "A coredramon? And a blue one too....that's excellent, with a green coredramon you'd make a great successor, and simply getting to mega would make you a slayerdramon anyways"


Hackmon winced, staring at Exemon from below "Alphamon is here you know...He's very worried about all of you."


"You don't have to tell him how I feel. If any of the knights understands my heart it's him." Spoke Alphamon who appeared alongside Craniamon, both flying to the group.


Exemon raised an eyeridge "That's all well and good but unfortunately not good enough. We're stuck in this dark world until each one of us is defeated, we tried to find workarounds but it was no good"


Alphamon nodded in agreement "Gankoomon was of the same mind. He'd long given up on himself and chosen Hackmon as his successor. From your observation of RD I'm assuming you've already done the same." He spoke solemnly.


Exemon shrugged "This coredramon here would make an excellent successor but the problem is I have no idea which way he wants to take his digivolution. If he's more independant he'd go for slayerdramon but if he likes to work with others he'd be my successor.


Alphamon nodded "He'll also have to do as YOU did though. And challenge Goldramon and the other three Dragon Masters. But as far as I've known him, he's been a worthy comrade."


Exemon sighed "In any case what do we do about this dark world and how do we destroy it from within without destroying ourselves?"


RD was stunned, it didn't seem like exemon was infected at all, but that didn't explain why he was there.


Alphamon crossed his arms in thought "Goldramon contacted me a moment ago. And there Is a way." He looked at RD "The problem is...It has to do with the crests...they can replace the keys locked inside your body."


Exemon looked down "It would've been nice to know that BEFORE the fighting started, the problem is I only know of two crests currently that are around now"


Alphamon shook his head "There's Zeedgarurumon's crest of friendship...Victorygreymon's crest of Light. but there's also one more." He pointed to the crest of Reliability on RD's shoulder.


Examon sighed as he thought about this "Alright but then what is to be done once the keys and crests are switched?"


Delta rubbed his chin, deep in thought "I think...the Keys are like digi cores...and the land is it's body. Destroy the key and the body is destroyed. One of you has to accept the crest of Reliability, and the other the crest of Friendship...problem is...the holder of friendship is already on his way to Belphemon."


RD blinked "But what happens once you destroy that key?"


"The body is destroyed once you destroy the key. but since the key is ejected from Examon or Craniamon when the crest is applied...there won't be any loss of life." Delta replied calmly.


"Yes but now they have the key so by your own admission won't they have to destroy themselves to destroy the key anyways?" RD asked.


Delta facepalmed, before Goldramon's voice came in "No. By replacing the key inside their body with the crest. The knights would be not affected by the destruction of the Key. Try giving your crest of Reliability to Examon or Craniamon. That's the easiest way to explain it."


"I didn't know I had one honestly...." RD said "Then again if I did I didn't see it, usually there's some sort of insignia with the crest on it. Where is it?"


Alphamon nodded, pointing to the crest on RD's shoulder "We've pointed this out twice already in this conversation. Right there."


RD blinked, looking at the cross like symbol on his shoulder. "I guess I never look at it or notice it because i'm used to it, so how do I just give it over" RD pulled at it, trying to take it off.


Alphamon chuckled softly "You can't just tug it out of your body. You have to touch the part of the body you want to transfer it too, then use your light to guide it in the right direction. In this case...Focus on whatever part of the knight you're transferring it too."


"I have no idea how I was supposed to know that" RD said sighing, giving his head a shake. "I've never even tried doing something like that once in my entire life" RD then touched the crest instead, letting a pulse of light envelope his shoulder.


Alphamon nodded a few times "It's pretty understandable. Next choose it's new inhabitant. Either Examon or Craniamon will do."


RD blinked as he focused on the crest and tried to use the light to guide it "Ugh I would've liked to have practiced this before I came here"


Alphamon nodded, chuckling "If we'd known about it prior it would have been in your training. But we didn't know until Blade transferred the Crest of light to his brother."


"He what? And wait... how did you stop your fight with craniamon?" RD asked, too many things going on that he was having trouble comprehending it.


Alphamon blinked, before smirking "Oh...well I didn't...we were interrupted...By Bang."


Duke blinked, looking kind of stunned from that realization "You mean Leo's brother right? The Beelzemon? Last I checked he was studying at Johto University."


Alphamon shrugged his shoulders "He showed up regardless."


"He showed up?!? What the heck happened then?" RD scratched the back of his head, he himself hadn't personally met the Beelzemon. But he recalled Max's telling of how Bang helped him locate Chaos when the Blackguilmon devoured Fang back in Goldenrod city.


Alphamon chuckled as he retold the tale of what happened. In the Flashback, Both Alphamon were trading blows with their spears and Axe, this went on for several minutes until a pair of bullets came flying into both weapons, sending them flying from their owners grasp. A Beelzemon rode forward on a moter bike, stopping just infront of them with a growl "Listen here! Bickering and fighting amongst comrades is what we demon lords do! Find a peaceful solution and get the hell out of here so I can kick Belphemon's ASS!" Bang started revving up his motorbike, chuckling as Leopardmon was at his side.


The flashback ended with Alphamon blushing a bit "He was quite...passionate about it too...Craniamon and myself couldn't deny that our fighting was senseless so we let him through. Hopefully he can help deal with Belphemon."


RD burst out laughing "That actually sounds like something beelzemon might say!"


Alphamon snickered a bit, nodding "I agree. He didn't seem to be on the wrong side though...Because Leopardmon was with him. If anything he looked anxious. If he'd been on the Darknesses side he simply would have deleted the two of us. IF he could that is."


"Wow ok that's good to know" RD said nodding. "Well he's OK in Max's book."


Alphamon nodded "Anyway, place the crest on either of them."


Craniamon gave a curt bow "I'll wait for Fang. Besides Examon is more crucial for us to win this war."


RD blinked as this was going on. He closed his eyes and affixed the crest to examon "Ok that's done"


Alphamon nodded, watching as the Crest of Reliability appeared on Examon's left chest plate, before a dark core in the shape of a cube started breaking out of his body "And that's it..."


"So we just annihilate it problem solved?" RD asked, staring at the floating cube.



Alphamon nodded a few times, chuckling "One good blow should destroy it. We'd all better be prepared to fly."


Exemon didn't even wait, he simply slashed at the cube with his great claws. The cube itself shattering at the sudden assault, leaving Hackmon stunned as the ground began crumbling beneath them, replaced with a black void.


Exemon simply flew off shaking it's head but RD was chasing after him, surprisingly despite exemon being a mega and RD currently being a champion level he was able to keep pace "Wait! I need to know if there's more to being a royal knight!" He didn't seem to care that he was making some really crazy maneuvers and poor Hackmon was being taken along for the ride


Hackmon yelped, holding on for dear life, his cries were a mix of laughter and fright "Gaaaah! Wait...I'm kind of curious about that too!"


Exemon finally seemed to spot his follower and stopped where he was, causing RD to crash right into him "Young digimon... every royal knight has a code they adhere to, the degree to which they adhere to it varies from knight to knight, but to put it in laymen's terms, they help the helpless, generally intervene only when needed since a royal knight is horrendously powerful, they are typically the last line of defense when a significant threat is presented to the digital world. If you really want to be a knight first off ask yourself where you see yourself further on down the road, next just about every digimon will be counting on you, some of whom have overinflated egos in need of puncturing, do you have enough tact to tell them that their worries are not as important as they themselves think they are? Finally we royal knights nine times out of ten are facing odds that are stacked against us, fighting our way out of a situation where our enemy can fight on par or even better than we can. Now taking all that into consideration can you honestly say you still want to be a royal knight?"


Hackmon blinked, holding tight to keep from falling off and thought on this. "Gankoomon mentioned this too. He said, every Royal knight has their own values...That one doesn't simply take the title of royal knighthood on a whim...but it is given to them by those that trust them and depend on them."


Exemon nodded "Exactly, most royal knights were given the title by other royal knights or digimon in high authority, Seraphimon being one of them. But it's the vast majority...The digimon they serve and protect, that deem them worthy of Royal Knighthood!"


Hackmon nodded, looking down for a moment. "Though...Master Gankoomon said the knights have no meaning after what happened. Noting that the world needed a new order that could protect it..."


RD looked upward "That is both right and wrong. True the CURRENT royal knights have no meaning being as splintered as they are but that's why there are successors now right? These new royal knights will be the new order"


Alphamon flew towards them, taking a deep breath "The Royal knights will never be the same. They might not even contain the same species. But I think we'll be just fine. My last remaining duty as the Leader of the knights is close at hand. Daemon and Belphemon are all that remains here. I think we should all return to Goldramon's temple for the time being."


Exemon snorted, nodding slowly. "That's where I was heading. It's becoming more confusing now"


Alphamon nodded, looking to the others and smirked "Well I think this one has been a bit anti climatic. But I'm glad we didn't have to fight you. Besides there's still someone up in Goldramon's castle who still needs your blessing."


Exemon sighed "I'm not surprised, who is it?"


Alphamon chuckled softly "You might already know him! Afterall you used to work with him in this world."


Exemon thought for a moment and smirked "Well I'll find out when we get there"


Nodding, Alphamon took a deep breath as they arrived back at the temple. Ironically, the temple's magic affected Exemon in that it shrunk his body down to a more managable size. Granted he still towered over everyone but he was able to fit through the halls. As they made it to the chamber of the saviors, Goldramon was healing the wounds in Blade's body, Hilt cross legged in meditation right beside them.


RD stared at this "Woah erm what happened here?"


Goldramon sighed, finishing up the patch job, though the armor was irreparrible, they could see the orange flesh beneath it, and Blade opened one eye with a smirk, hand quickly covering the sealed wound "Oh you know how things go...one moment you're out to save the world...the next...well...a tender moment turns out not so tender."


["Not exactly something to joke about" RD muttered "Did you just let him attack you?"


Blade nodded, taking a deep breath, looking at his brother, smiling softly "I did. But I had good reason. I know it's a foolish thing to do but I couldn't bring myself to hurt him."


"Even though he fully wanted to hurt you? Alright" RD shrugged. That made no sense whatsoever.


Blade chuckled a bit "He...did what I did back when I met Jesse. He played the role of the villian to protect his feelings."


RD sighed, turning his attention to Hilt then back to Blade. Looking distraught that one of their biggest plays was so gravely injured. "So what now? We have the way to destroy the dark world now?"


Blade nodded a few times, pointing to both Max and Jesse who were trying to mix their powers together, a dull glow forming in their hands "We're nearly there. Just three more anchors leave this world in place..." He paused when he saw Examon and winced "I was hoping to see you in more...pleasurable circumstances..."


"Things like this happen all the time" Exemon said, he almost sounded bored. Walking over to Blade's side, examining the wound.


Blade laughed "I'm hoping for a long lasting peace after this...Victorygreymon took me as his vessel. Though it's you who makes the final call. The dragons of the east will all listen to you. And without your word, they won't accept me as Azulongmon's successor as Lord."


Exemon folded his arms, "The problem is unless the digimon is an azulongmon even if you're a Victorygreymon they won't listen anyways" Exemon looked up "Digimon don't just listen to me because I'm the dragon emporer, they listen because I have experience and have seen the digital world's history more than any other digimon. Most of the dragon digimon are ignorant of Victorygreymon's existence, most don't even know who he is, but azulongmon once he became a lord became an icon of the four lords and is one of the most recognizable after helping the very first digidestines and helping out in the D-reaper problem. So having any other digimon as lord will strike the dragon digimon as unthinkable"


Blade chuckled softly, slowly pulling himself up. "It's for that ignorance that our world should open it's eyes. I'm sure it'll take quite a few years. Maybe even more than a single human lifetime. I...in my previous life never sought leadership. You handed it to me because the digimon had trust in me. Azulongmon is gone though, and they need someone they can trust again."


Exemon rounded and looked at Max and Jesse "No, no he's not technically gone" Exemon smirked "Didn't someone get some of azulongmon's data just before he was destroyed?"


Max and Jesse blinked as Examon looked at them. They gave it a moments thought, then the former replied. "Yeah, Kiya and Scav mentioned Azulongmon being deleted by Daemon. He gave a small fragment of his data to Scav just before he passed."


Exemon nodded "You want to be the new lord? Take that data from azulongmon into yourself. If he accepts you not only will his data speak on your behalf, you will also gain the ability to become Azulongmon"


Blade blinked, thinking on that before nodding "I'll have to speak with Scav after all is said and done then."


Hilt chuckled softly, sitting to face his brother. "He...should accept you. You've proven to be more reliable, and the villagers at least trust you with their lives."


Exemon nodded, voice perfectly leveled. "His reliability was never called into question, his current species on the other hand....let's just say some digimon are speciesist and hate change and leave it at that, though no digimon in their right minds would admit that"


Smirking, Blade slowly pulled himself up, Looking at Max and Jesse for a moment. "Even if they are speciest. I'll gain their trust. Azulongmon and Victorygreymon chose me for this very reason. I'm ready. But I can't assume the title of lord until we end this conflict."


Goldramon nodded softly, eyes closed. "Spoken like one that is ready to take charge. I have a feeling you'll be an even greater Victorygreymon than the one of the past. You might even succeed where he failed..."


"Wait what?" Blade looked at the holy digimon who simply flew off, leaving the room. "What did I fail in the past..."

---

Scav and Kiya finally made their way into what looked to be a japanese styled castle, it was coated a darkly black, as if to blend in to the surrounding colorless background of the land. Scav took one deep breath as he remained in his Nobledramon form the entire time. "This is it Kiya...Why am I not surprised that Daemon is concieted enough to think he deserves a castle of his own."


"Why don't we tear it down? In any case...let's try not to get caught too deep in this quest for revenge...We'll avenge Azulongmon. But our first priority should be to protect this world." Kiya pointed out calmly, hanging over Scav's shoulder as a Dracomon.

Scav nodded solemly. Slowly walking towards the front gate of the castle. "I know Kiya...I know..."


(To be continued)