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"That's What He Sayiad"

It was a good day for training; it had been several days since the last attempt to attack the saiyan brothers and their digital friends, but to keep from getting rusty, they agreed to seperate locations for combat training. It was a bright and beautiful sunlit morning when Mac departed from the Digimon Village with Trey and Matt, along with his Digimon friends Frost and Bladeleomon. To keep things simple and quiet, to not rouse any suspicions, they traveled by horse to their destination, no one really knew where they were going except for Bladeleomon, who led the way. As the morning began to approach the afternoon, their steady gallop had entered a slower walk as the sunlight filtered through the trees and the forest approached its end.

Mac stretched his arms along the horse's reins and yawned before noticing Frost at a comfortable stride was reading a book perched into the front of his saddle. "How are you reading like that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Something like that would make me sick."

"I just trust her intuition." The blue wargreymon said, not looking up from his pages. "Besides, she's used to following the flanks."

"Uh-huh..." Matt sounded off quixotically. "And I'm the king of the digital world."

Frost smirked as he looked up. "Well, it's true." He insisted. "I could ride blindfolded and make it fine as long as she was in sight of the huge butt at the front of our convoy... at least his horse anyway."

He acted somewhat innocently when Bladeleomon turned to face him, both Trey and Matt snorted in laughter. He rolled his eyes and returned his attention forward as Mac returned his attention to Frost. "So what is it you're reading?"

"Hmm?" Frost looked up. "Oh, just a book of battle techniques. No fair cheating by reading my guides though. If you want to beat me in a fight, you'll have to do it on your own."

"If you're just learning how to fight, I don't think it'll be that difficult a task to do." Mac teased, getting a quick scathing, yet confident look from the dragon.

"Don't count your Digi-eggs before they've hatched." He warned. "It's just research." He said pointedly before returning to his book, not noticing a low hanging branch only inches from his face. "GWAUUF!!" He grunted as he felt it come across his face and flung him from the horse.

That did it, immediately following Frost's planting to the ground, everyone including Bladeleomon broke out in raucous laughter as the blue warrior sat up and gruffly rubbed his face where the branch had struck. His irritated look allowed Bladeleomon to calm down faster and he dismounted his steed, taking Frost's horse by the rein in one hand, and extending his paw out to aid his friend off the ground, he maintained a cool demeanor.

"How about you pay more attention to the road ahead of you, and a little less to your books." He suggested. "We need this; Mac and the others need this, alright?"

"Heh." Frost chuckled a bit and took a long blink, trying to put his embarrassment out of his mind. "Alright, alright." He said, taking Leo's hand and being helped back to his feet. "I guess I'll have to study later."

"You'll need to do something while you recover at least." Mac said with a confident wink.

"Confidence is good." Bladeleomon said, looking at the others. "It helps demoralize your enemies while you work out a strategy. But overconfidence will land you in more trouble. If you concentrate on what ways you can defeat your opponents more than actually defeating them, they'll have a chance to turn the tables on you."

"Makes sense." Trey said.

"Mac; you, Mark and Max all have a special strength that will help turn the tide of this war. But if you let it, it can betray you and kill us all. Remember that."

"I will." Mac said with a nod.

"Good." Bladeleomon mounted his steed again as Frost returned to his own saddle. "We don't have far to go now, come on guys."

***

Max sat completely still, not allowing the warmth of the sun to get the better of him as the afternoon coming on began to soak into his fur. Maintaining his eyes closed, he sat cross-legged on the grass only a few hundred yards from the village; the soft din of daily noise taking a bit more of a dominant impression on his concentration as he awaited some form of clarity to come over him and make the right answers appear before him. He inhaled deeply and let his breath out slowly. As he listened to his surroundings, a sound made his eyebrow twitch as the familiar sound of a footstep approached him.

"You know, it's harder for me to concentrate with you walking around." He said without opening his eyes.

Sci smiled; the Taomon had learned to move with the grace of a fox, he could move stealthily through a room with glass on the floor while barefoot and people in the room couldn't detect him, but Max's senses were immediately keen to his presence and he was impressed. "Very nice, how long did you know I was standing here?"

Max opened his eyes and smirked at the Digimon. "Oh I could really only tell you've been here the last two minutes or so, but I had a sneaking suspicion you'd gotten here about ten minutes ago."

"You've really come a long way." Sci said. "Not many can detect me so easily."

Max scoffed. "I never said it was easy."

The digimon smiled a bit and seated himself next to Max. "Now, why is it you decided not to go out with the others for training?" He asked curiously. "You've already got such a strong self-awareness, you could probably surpass your brothers in your power level."

"That's not enough." Max said, averting his eyes in frustration. "That's not enough to--stop the other side of me from coming out." He sighed. "In fact, it might be the reason why this... this warrior personality of mine has been so strong... too strong."

Sci frowned and placed his paw on Max's shoulder. "But in the end, you always win out. Soon this other personality will burn itself out, you'll see."

"And if it doesn't, I could look forward to hurting my brothers, my friends... even you Sci."

There was a quiet moment as the pair of them looked on. Quiet enough that both wolf and fox could hear branches creaking in the wind. Finally, Sci broke the silence. "I'll tell you what, why don't you remain here and meditate? I will get Bancholeomon and Shadow, and we can all train together... how about it?"

Max pondered for a moment. "Do you think they'd be interested? I know they're still busy putting some of the village back together after Gallantmon's attack."

"You let me worry about that." Sci said, standing up and stretching. "You hush up and close your eyes. I'll be back in a flash."

"Right." Max said as he watched Sci rush off to the forest, vanishing as he made his way in the direction of the hidden village just beyond the border. Crossing his legs again, Max closed his eyes and began to concentrate on his meditation.

Breathe in... breathe out... breathe in...

"Let me out!"

The sudden jerking pain ran across Max's chest as though someone had just stabbed it. He could feel the darkness creeping in as the warrior spirit made his presence known. "Ace..." He whispered the name before seeing two beady red eyes hidden behind his eyelids. "You can't do this, you can't win..." He said.

There was a chuckle of confidence; a deep, penetrating, dark chuckle that made Max's chest vibrate. "Max, haven't you learned yet? You can't fight yourself... your own true nature."

There was a burning sensation behind Max's eyes as he snorted and shrugged it off. "You are *not* my true nature--"

"Max?" A voice pulled Max from the darkness he was looking into and he opened his eyes to see Sci, Shadow and Bancholeomon standing over him. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Max answered abruptly before clearing his throat. "I'm... fine."

"Was it... him again?" Shadow asked. "This Ace fellow I've heard about?"

"No, no." Max shook his head, trying to clear it but observing the doubtful gazes of his friends. "Guys I'm fine."

"Alright." Sci said with a reassuring smile. "Well then, we can help you meditate some more and--"

"No." Again Max's voice sounded sharp and full of frustration. "I mean... I don't want you guys to just sit around and watch me meditate."

"Don't be silly." Bancholeomon said assuringly. "We will meditate with you."

"You guys... meditate?" He glanced between Bancholeomon and Shadow.

Shadow seated himself on the ground, and with a profoundly strange comfort, crossed his legs and sat into as close of a lotus position as possible for a male his size. "Of course." He said. "Warriors; true warriors know that the path toward successful battle lies in mental calmness and clarity..." He looked at the others staring at him. "What?" He asked in a rather clueless fashion.

"Well..." Max sighed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Alright then, I guess we can continue together." He was relieved at least for the time being, that he would be safe from Ace's influence if he'd tried to take him over once again... but a part of him nagged at him that it wasn't over yet...

****

"Come on! Let's see what you got!"

Mark roared out as he charged at Exveemon, who at first was hesitant to charge in return, but instead let out a mighty bellow of his own before running toward the wolf at a full run. Exvee's muscles flexed out as he approached his opponent and he brought his arms in to grab the wolf, but Mark quickly evaded him. The wolf darted around to Exveemon's side and then attacked with a spinning jump kick. Exveemon blocked the attack and in an instant, countered by sweeping his tail toward Mark. Mark grabbed it and twisted it around. "YOWCH!" The dragon yelped and he was yanked hard from the ground by the smaller wolf and flung at least six yards in the opposite direction before landing with a loud thud against a tree. He grunted and grabbed his head. "Hey! Not so hard, we're not enemies you know?"

"Oh come on! You're a Digimon aren't you? You're a warrior aren't you?" Mark waved his fingers in a taunting manner. "Get your blue butt up and attack me man!"

"This isn't a contest, it's a sparring match to help you train your saiyan levels." Magnamon said discerningly. "You really need to get that through your head. Your brother isn't--"

"What, isn't pushing himself?" Mark growled. "Look, he's achieved saiyan level three and I can barely manage two. I'll take both of you on if I have to get enough strength to make that happen."

"You're not going to get it by pushing yourself; it isn't like Digivolving." A third voice chimed in and Rapidmon appeared from behind a tree. "And if it is anything like it at all, you would know that forcing yourself will only make things worse."

"Right. Mmhmm." Mark answered passively with an eyeroll. "Okay, so how about I take all three of you on then?"

Exveemon and Magnamon looked at one another. "He's not listening." Magnamon said. "Perhaps a show of force will get him to realize the error of his ways?"

"I don't know you guys..." Exveemon said with a frown. "I mean, don't you think it would be a bit much for him?"

"Only one way to find out!" Magnamon cried out as he charged toward Mark.

"Ahh!" Mark took a step back and readied himself for Magnamon's attack; deftly avoiding the golden armored dragon's strikes he blocked a hand strike and wheeled around to kick him, only to find that Exveemon had joined in and managed to block his own attack by catching his foot.

Breaking away from the two of them with a spiraling dive, Mark rolled and landed on his feet, turning to prepare himself to defend against the two of them when Rapidmon came rushing in. "Rapidfire!" He shouted, suddenly shooting a volley of missiles from their launchers. Mark was surprised at the sudden blasting attack, but had been hoping for something to up the excitement. He did a backflip, avoiding the first two missiles easily so that by the time he landed on his feet he could simply bat another one away and making a sweeping double kick, he knocked the last two to the ground easily. "Oh come on, got anything easier?" He taunted.

"Vee-Laser!" Exveemon's cry came from behind Mark, the dragon had moved quickly to get behind him and was now giving away his position with the sound of his attack.

Looking back to avoid the laser, Mark realized that it was a ruse and spotted Magnamon rushing at him from the side. Mark quickly side stepped, but felt the singe of Exveemon's blast knock him off balance, just long enough to receive a solid shoulder-strike from the armored Digimon. As he tried to regain his balance he grunted and felt the powerful strike of Rapidmon slam into his abdomen and he was propelled up into the air. "AHHHH! What the hell?"

"You wanted us together boyo? You got it!"

Rapidmon turned about midair, taking Mark down with him at a forceful speed, slamming him into the ground with such a great force that the wolf could see both his fur and the ground fly up into the air like a cloud over his face.

***

"I'm telling you he isn't ready!" Trey shouted for the dozenth time. "Mac's been through a lot lately, the last thing we want to do is push him to do more. We're still not sure what his limits are!"

"Shouldn't he be the one to decide that?" The weregarurumon tapped his foot impatiently.

"Matt, I'm telling you--"

"No. I'm telling you, he's ready for this and he needs it to keep his saiyan muscles or whatever it is he uses to transform. We need this for the fight ahead."

"You're just treating him like something you plug in and use for a little bit like a nightlight, but he's not like that. He's a wolf and he is a person, and probably the savior of the Digital world we don't know, but pushing him like this--"

"I'm... standing right here, you guys." Mac said, grunting as he slid down off his horse. "But thanks for the concern."

"We've all discussed it, Trey. Mac agrees that he wants to train." Bladeleomon said. "I'm surprised we're even having this discussion right here, right now."

"All this bickering is actually putting me in the mood for a good fight, how about you Mac?"

The wolf smirked as he watched the dragon dismount and he cracked his knuckles. "Alright then, how about we spar?" He suggested. "You and me, Frosty. You think you can take me?"

Frost grinned at the wolf, silently eyeing him up and down before standing in front of him; the hulking brute was still a Wargreymon morph and looked incredibly imposing for the part. The confident smirk was enough to send a chill down Mac's spine, but he grinned in return. This would be one fight he wasn't going to back down from.

"RAAHHH!" Frost attacked suddenly, tackling the wolf back with a sudden shoulder blow that sent them both back several yards.

"Hey! Don't hurt him!" Trey said with an air of concern to his voice.

"Please, the day I hurt this wolf is the day I join Myotismon in a musical play." Frost answered confidently.

"That would be a show I'd like to see." Mac grinned as he suddenly increased his power level and grabbed the dragon by the shoulder, flipping him sideways and throwing him to the ground.

Frost chuckled and got up, rubbing his hand along his jaw. "Now there's level one." He growled and charged at him again. "ICE TORNADO!" He roared as he spun, propelling himself from the ground as he became a funnel of blue energy that swept Mac off his feet.

Mac could feel himself being lifted off the ground, moving into the sky at a high speed as he fell within the funnel and could feel his lungs starting to freeze as the air was dragged out of them. He knew he could stop this; Frost was hidden somewhere within this well of energy. He flung his arms out abruptly and felt a solid blow of something hit his arm. "AHWOO!" He could hear the tornado howling in pain, he knew he'd hit a nerve for sure. He pushed himself toward the wall and through the spinning blue energy. Mac grunted, feeling the ice suddenly shower over him and he waited for Frost to come into him again. He grunted as their bodies collided and Mac was suddenly flying through the sky now headed toward the ground at a high speed. His arms locked around Frost's chest.

"Leggo!" Frost grunted, trying to free himself from the impressive strength the wolf showed against him. Suddenly he puffed out his chest and then threw the wolf's arms to the side, separating them.

Mac fell toward the ground alone, calling on his sword, he watched it appear in front of him and fly right into his hands. A new power suddenly filled his body and his coloring shifted, allowing the remainder of his tails to appear as he rocketed into the ground, landing on his feet and slamming down into a crouched position from which he slowly looked up as Frost came crashing to the ground behind him. "Next."

"Have at thee!" Bladeleomon raised his swords and charged at him.

Quickly, Mac raised his sword and deflected Blade's attacks. He then parried and tried to thrust toward the lion, who easily avoided the attack the pair sparred, Bladeleomon pushing forward as Mac stepped back, keeping his eyes on the blades coming after him. "A level two saiyan and this is all you've got? Come on Mac, you can try harder than this."

"Oh. Yes I am." Mac said, the confidence in his voice looking to unnerve the lion.

As they stepped back once again, Mac could feel the cool sensation of the river flowing behind him, the sound of the rushing waters filling his mind as he stood firm against the Digimon's continued attempts to get him to step back. "Watch this; now you see me..." He parried once more, then clapped his hands together.

There was a flicker Blade could detect for a split second, when suddenly it looked like Mac's arms and swords were in two places at once. He blocked the attack coming in on his left, but as soon as Mac's hands clapped together again, there was a sudden blast of energy that caused the lion to fly backwards as Mac's hair flashed into a brilliant golden color; his eyes phased into a light blue and his entire look changed yet again by the time Bladeleomon hit the water now behind the wolf. "Now you still do?" He sounded somewhat confused on his own punchline, but Mac quickly shrugged it off as the others rushed over to him.

"Oh man, you did it! Again!" Matt remarked in amazement.

"Congratulations." Frost sounded rather pleased with himself too.

"You see, I figure yellow hair looks good on you, we should make that a permanent thing."

Mac grinned. "Well, thanks. It's pretty hard to keep it this wild, I'm sure." He said, tufting his fur a bit.

"Oh no, don't worry about me. I'm fine. Just all soaked here."

Frost chuckled and helped Bladeleomon back to his feet. "Sorry about that."

"What's wrong, Mac?"

Mac was still, his eyes were closed as waves of energy poured off of him. "I'm... not sure..." He said. "I sense... I sense something is wrong... or maybe will be wrong."

"Is it an attack? Myotismon?" Matt asked

"Let him concentrate." Trey warned. "He'll tell us."

Suddenly, Mac snapped out of it in a flash and turned to Frost. "Frost, get Mark and the others, we need to get back to the village now!"

As he turned to run, Matt called after him. "Hey! Wait-what's going on?"

"I'll explain on the way! Come on!"

***

"Max? Are you alright?"

Sci had stood up and was paying attention to the wolf, who was still seated on the log he'd started meditating on, but something seemed different. The fox could detect strange waves of energy around him that seemed to emanate from within himself as his body had begun to twitch and shake almost impossibly fast for a normal wolf.

"What's going on?" Shadow asked, opening his eyes. Bancholeomon doing the same a moment later.

"I'm not sure." Sci said. "Max is..."

There was an explosion of dark energy that brought the other two to their feet immediately.

"No... you can't..." Max grunted as he felt himself being strangled by the energy surrounding him like ribbons. Two burning eyes appeared before him, now suffocating him in a warrior's rage. "I won't... let you..."

"You don't really have a choice, wolf." Ace's voice muttered in the darkness, now growing to a loud perception enough to hurt Max's ears. "Let me be your eyes, let me feel with your hands. I am power incarnate and I will destroy any who step in my way."

Max continued to struggle, grabbing his seat even tighter. "N-no..."

"Don't struggle, it will only hurt you... us rather." Ace chuckled. "Grant me my freedom, Max!"

"Max?" Sci placed a hand on Max's shoulder, but it was immediately slapped away as a pair of red, burning eyes opened and looked at Sci.

"Not exactly, fox!" He growled and bounded to his feet as Sci took a step back.

"No... it couldn't be!" He exclaimed.

"Believe it, baby! The Ace is back!" He laughed triumphantly. "Do you three really think that the wolf pup who happens to share this body with me would have been strong enough to outlast me forever? You have no idea how good it is going to feel, not having to hold myself back!"

"Release him!" Shadow commanded as he grabbed Ace from behind.

"Tch." Ace's tongue clicked as he grabbed the grappling arm and gave it a throw, hurling Shadow over his shoulder as he attained his second saiyan level in an instant. "Do you really think you're going to be able to stop me?

"No. But I can." Mac's voice came from behind and Ace turned to face him.

"Ahh the prodigal brother returns." Ace crossed his arms defiantly. "Do you realize that you aren't the only special pup in this litter, Mac?. This... this little brat of a big brother of yours? Oh he holds back so much, I feel only about ten percent of his power has ever been unleashed, and I am sick of being held back!"

"Ten percent? No way!" Mark shouted as he arrived aptly on the shoulder of Frost, who let him down to the ground.

"You're the intruder here, Ace." Mac warned. "Warrior spirit or no, we aren't going to be without our brother."

"Damn right." Mark exclaimed in agreement.

"Is that so?"

Growling, Mark charged in first, quickly attaining his second saiyan form as he rushed at Ace. "Mark! Wait!" Mac called after him, but it was too late, the two suddenly locked into combat and began to exchange punches. After a few moments, Mark seemed to gain the upperhand, striking Ace's chest and pushing him back some, he then began to punch at his face as the others took a step back.

"Mark, what are you doing? You're beating up on your brother!" Sci warned in an attempt to get him to stop. "Stop it!"

"Wha--UUURK!"

The strike was so unexpected that Mark about lost his lunch from the blow that hit his stomach and knocked him up into the air. Almost immediately, Ace leapt upward and punched Mark even higher and before the wolf could do anything about it, Ace was directly on top of him, sending down a hammer blow that knocked him flat back into the ground with such a harsh speed that it created an indent.

Mark grunted as he was helped back to his feet. "Wh-what the hell was that? What kind of power?"

"I don't know..." Mac said. "I've never seen strength like that before, he might even be stronger than me!"

"No way!" Mark shouted, getting his second wind, he again rushed at the other wolf.

"Mark! Get back here you idiot!" Shadow urged, but it was too late.

Mark made it as far as Ace's arm length before he was suddenly stopped by the Saiyan wolf, his body was effortlessly lifted into the air and flung like a rag doll before being let loose to go flying again; this time without any sort of control, Mark cried out as he was hurled far into the forest behind them, a soft sound of trees cracking and breaking apart echoed the other wolf's defeat.

"Mark!" Exveemon shouted as he took off to go flying in the direction that the wolf was sent flying.

"I've never seen this kind of power before, I've never seen a saiyan like this!" Mac took a step back. "If we're going to stop him, we're going to need to work together!"

"Mac, stop." Sci warned. "He's still your brother, any damage you inflict on Ace might risk Max too!"

"We're going to have to take that chance." Mac said. "Everyone! Attack!"

The Digimon rallied together and each ran after Ace, who turned a cold eye to them. Bladeleomon was first, but narrowly missed the wolf's shoulder whose energy was enough to make his blades curl like hairs and fall off his swords. Ace grabbed the lion by the shoulders, gave him a sound kick to the stomach, then one across his face before sending him to the ground. Frost used his powers to try and freeze the wolf in place, but a powerfully strong wolf now, Ace simply grabbed the Wargreymon by his belt and flung him into Shadow, sending the both of them down harder.

Mac roared, escalating to his level two form before attacking the wolf, who simply laughed at him. "Oh come on Mac. Show us your true power! I want to see your third level unlocked!"

The pair locked arms and came chest to chest for a moment as Mac growled at him. "Never. Now let my brother go!"

With a mockery smirk on his face, Ace imitated Mac. "Never!"

The pair clashed hard and Ace threw Mac backwards. Mac recovered and propelled himself hard at the wolf. Suddenly, the vision of Sci flashed in his eyes.

"Mac! No! You'll hurt Max!"

Mac grunted as he stopped short and was soundly kicked across the face before being punched and kicked backwards to the ground. "Wh-what is this power?" He asked himself as he stood up, watching as Bancholeomon, Magnamon and Rapidmon were soundly knocked unconscious by his brother's force. "What kind of potential does it have and how am I going to stop it!?" He looked down at his sword, still glowing in his hand. "The blazing blast... I have to use my sword!" He exclaimed, lifting his sword in front of his face. "HA!!" He shouted as his entire body exploded in golden energy; just shy of his third level, Ace looked at him expectantly, but looked disappointed when the wolf didn't level.

Another flash of Sci appeared in Mac's vision. "Mac, no... you can't."

"I've got to..." He whispered.

"Come now, brother. Don't you think enough blood has been shed today?" Ace taunted him and started to walk toward him. "Step aside, allow me to leave peacefully and I won't hurt you."

Mac gritted his teeth. "I don't think so. BLAZING BLAST!" He roared as he ignited the power in his sword and sent it flying toward Ace.

"Pathetic." He grimmaced at the wave shooting toward him, and shoved his palm out to deflect the attack right back at Mac.

Mac cried out in pain as his own attack hit him. He grunted and weakly fell to his knees as the burn from his own attack began to subside. He growled and as the energy field disappeared, he found himself now transformed back into his third saiyan form, much to the elation of his brother who grinned. Still holding his sword, Mac continued to swell his power into it, in order to try again.

"You're going to hit me again? Please." Ace scoffed. "The first one tickled."

"Mac! You need to stop..." Sci's voice crawled into Mac's mind again. "You will kill Ace and your brother in the process! Allow me to take him out!"

"Huh!?" Ace grunted as he sensed a movement from behind him and suddenly turned to see the fox flying at him like a blur. He vanished as Ace took a swing at him. "Ah! The fox!" He grunted as he spun around, looking for Sci who suddenly appeared behind him.

Spinning around, Ace formed three balls of energy in his hand and slung them at Sci. The energy balls struck him with the force of a lightning storm, and Sci let out a howl of pain as the sky went dark and bolts of lightning shot down at him from the sky. As the darkness faded, Ace stared at Sci whose eyes were closed, his power level was basically nothing, but somehow he remained standing. "Take a hit like that and still stand up afterward? Even unconscious, your body has a lot of power as well..." Looking at Mac, who had lost all his strength and reverted back to his normal wolf form, Ace scoffed and grabbed Sci, slinging him over his shoulder. "I think I've had enough of this little show." He said. "I will be on the lookout for a real challenge." He said, watching as Mac finally lost consciousness and fell to the ground. "I think I'll keep your fox with me for now... I might find a good... use for him." He chuckled darkly before vanishing.

THE END