Chapter Six: In a Deep, Dark, Time Fissure
An old man sat on a park bench in a large city, night taking it fully in it's grip, the cold air filling his lungs. Hong Kong is a great city. He could still remember when it was under the British Empire, until the one country, two systems policy came in. Still, he could always find great dumplings, no matter which timeline.
A young woman stepped off a bus. There was nothing odd about that but the girl was really out of place, a foreigner but you wouldn't think unless you really looked. Her clothes were made from a material that wouldn't be invented for another eighty years, her watch was a psychic link device, designed to communicate with her brain directly and tattooed on her forearm was a number next to a small but messy scar, something not done by a surgeon of any professional skill and admit to it.
"You wanted to see me sir?" The girl asked the old man.
"I just wanted you to check in. Dumping?" The man offered.
"No thanks. I've just had breakfast."
"Suit yourself. Did you see Raptor one's escape though?"
"Right up until he encountered the son of Spencer Damon. I couldn't stay longer. The Black Star was there sooner then I expected. And he wasn't alone."
"And the devices?"
"We've hit a snag. Something in the digital world has managed to block the digital gates created by the space occultation devices we gave Kurata. He has been unable to access the digital world for the past four years. Not that I've agreed with that part of the plan anyway. The man is insane."
"Is he or any of the Confidentially ministry aware of Hypnos?"
"No. The Ministry of Defence is keeping Hypnos under wraps, along with everyone else on the Board of Directors. They won't even let their government leaders know about the giant computers under the government building, the pentagon, and CERN. But the Black Star will find out about both agencies in due time."
"He won't agree with either of their methods. DATS' policy of erasing civilian's memories directly violates the Sentient Rights Movement. And we both know that Yamaki's ambitions aren't much better. What of our recruits?"
"We may have a problem with Miranda. I'm aware that she might go rouge. I know she has the Diminutional Manipulator, but she has nothing to lose but the gains of this plan if she defects."
"Then identify the problem with the oscillation devices. After that, you may dispose of her, and her pet. But until then, make sure she doesn't succumb to her feelings. Am I clear?"
"Clear."
Pain.
Okay. She knew pain was a good start. She hasn't died. Not yet at least. Though she was cold, her head was throbbing, and she couldn't see a thing. She then released that her eyes were still closed. She opened them, only to be meet with black. This wasn't just darkness… darkness was natural. Passive and timid, parting the way for light. This was aggressive, all consuming, as if nothing else existed.
No. Something else did exist. Something right here with her.
"Who is there?!" She called out into the black. "Answer me!"
The only response she got was a distant chuckle.
"Nice place." The darker Agumon said, looking around the riverside where four humans, four digimon and two hybrids ended up. "Sky needs a little work."
"You've never been here?" Gabumon asked. "But you're a digimon. All digimon were born in the digital world."
"He said he was born in the institution." the lighter Agumon answered for his counterpart.
"And begs the question how did a bunch of humans get their grubby hands on a digimon egg." Blake huffed looking up into the sky. "And only the second most interesting question to be asked today. The first in three, two…"
"Did you two digi-volve as we went though the gate?" Matt asked the two hybrids.
"Wrong ques…" Blake turned to find that Takuya and Koichi weren't in their human forms anymore. "Did not see that coming."
In response, Takuya checked his hands, finding them in gauntlets. "I'll say. I didn't even notice." He added, noticing that his voice deepened from Agunimon's form. "Koichi?"
"Does anyone else feel that?" The warrior of darkness asked. Koichi was looking up towards the darkening sky as it rumbled with thunder and flashed with lightning.
"Good thing JP isn't here. He hates thunderstorms." Takuya noted.
"Isn't he the warrior of thunder?" Tai asked.
"Which is why he isn't afraid of it anymore. But it's weird."
"What is?" Yolei asked.
"It doesn't feel like an actuarial storm." Hawkmon answered for her partner.
"But it looks like a storm." Tai pointed out.
"They're right Tai. That storm shouldn't be here." His partner pointed out.
"Only one expiration fits what we're looking at here. I sense mayhem about." Blake noted before they heard something… a moan.
"That sounded like…" Takuya began, looking towards the river. "Cody?!"
He didn't need to say anything more, everyone was running towards the river, finding said boy passed out by the water. Next to him was the bruised and worn for mom of a small white digimon, assumably Armadillomon's in-training form. Koichi knelled down, checked the boy's pulse. It was obvious that he was cold, and his breathing was fast and shallow.
"Is he okay?" The darker Agumon asked.
"He'll be fine once he wakes up." Gabumon assured him. "Let's get them some water. Both of them will need it."
"He's in shock!" Koichi announced.
"Med kit from my bag." Blake pointed out throwing the pack to Yolei. "Look for the red crescent on a titanium case. You all noticed that right?"
"Apart from the eight year old who looks like he's at death's door, not much." Takuya pointed out. Once Yolei got the kit out of the bag, Takuya took it and used it to elevate Davis' legs.
"He's nine. And I meant Koichi feeling for a pulse though gauntlets, and you knowing basic first aid. There's a big blue blanket in the back pocket." He pointed out before finding something on the young boy's shoulder. Something beried half under the flesh but still partially exposed. "Hold up. This doesn't seem like garden verity shock to me. Help me roll him over."
Matt complied, only to wish he hadn't. Sticking out from under Cody's shirt was an all too gory sight. But that wasn't what made him ill. It was what was berried in the boy's shoulder that made him want to throw up. A black gear…
"Stars above." Was all Blake could say, already running though possible ways to stop the bleeding and replace the blood already lost.
"What is that thing?" Yolei asked, not expecting an answer.
He grabbed his digi-vice from his pocket, aimed it at the boy's shoulder. Both Yolei and Blake watched in awe as the device lit up and the gear was pushed out from the young boy's body and shattered, the only proof that the gear was ever there was the dry blood, and a long thin scar down the boy's shoulder where the gear was, like it was inflicted years ago. Cody began to breathe easier, his breaths no longer as shallow. Colour and warmth was already returning to his skin.
"Makes sense you've seen those things before." Blake noted.
"What does that mean?" Matt challenged. Did he really think they were responsible for those things?
"Look around you. Does anything about this place seem right to you? The storm? The gear? Which by the way is another question entirely. But right now, we're standing in the middle of a time fissure. Two points in history that should never have connected pressed together with the past leaking into the present." Blake looked at the two older digidestine with concern. "Who or what else might be here?"
Koichi had an answer already in his mind, but before he could voice it, someone else spoke up.
"The river's frozen over!"
"Tai! You've got to see this!"
Matt and Tai turned to see their partners standing over the river's edge, which was, as Gabumon pointed out, frozen solid.
"Stay with Cody you two." Tai instructed Yolei and Hawkmon as everyone else got up to inspect the frozen water. "This is a little too weird. It's practically warm out. Why would this river freeze right though."
"It's a side effect of the time fissure. The general laws of physics in the area have been altered. If we don't close it soon, there might not be much left of the area." He produced his smartphone and pointed it up river. "Hope you guys don't mind walking."
"It's part of the job description." Tai pointed out. "Fighting evil digimon and walking long distances."
"What Joe wouldn't give for a working bus stop." Matt added.
"I'm guessing you guys didn't have Trailmon when you had to save the digital world." Takuya conceded. "At least you didn't need to lose your lunch every third trip."
"At least Mimi wouldn't whine about walking everywhere."
"Just don't throw up in her hat."
"Hey! I was eight!"
Gatomon in the meantime kept scratching at the ice in a feeble attempt of getting to her partner under a thick layer of ice.
"Did not!" She heard someone shout.
"Actuarially Tai, you did look kinda panicked after you woke up."
"Agumon!"
"In his defence, a pink head with long ears would make any human, on that particular earth think they're hallucinating. Or drunk. I actuarially remember this great brew of sake I picked up in 1459. Good year for throwing stars."
Down river, walking down the frozen waterway, Gatomon could easily make out five taller figures, accompanied by three stout ones. As they got closer, one of the taller figures looked more familiar. It wasn't until the bushy brown hair and the googles came into her vision did she recognise who it was.
"Tai! Agumon!" She dashed towards the group without a second thought, forgetting what she was running on. Her attempt to stop before running into anyone, failed with her running into her partner's brother.
"Gatomon?" Tai was able utter. "Wh…"
"She's trapped in the ice! I can't get her out!" The white digital cat yelled in a panic before running back up the river.
"Who?!" Tai called out as he followed, trying to both run and stay up right on the ice at the same time. Everyone wearing shoes had some trouble, Matt most of all but Blake wasn't having as much.
It wasn't long until Takuya saw her, moments before anyone else did. When he did, he launched himself into the air and with a Pyro Tornado Attack, surprising everyone when his round house kick hit the frozen ground. Their attention was turned to the girl frozen under the ice.
"Kari!" Tai yelled.
"How did she get under there?" Koichi asked.
"Who cares? We need to get her out."
"Out the way Tai!" his partner ordered, flames filling his jaw. Tai was quick to move out of the way as an orange ball of flames was let lose and hit the ice.
"Need more fire power." Tai noted as he produced the orange and blue digi-vice from his jacket pocket as Matt took the blue and silver digi-vice from his. Both teenagers summoned the fractal codes around their hands and scanned them with the devices. Both partner digimon were encased in fractal code, skin stripped, and shape reformed. Blake saw the familiar sight of Greymon standing where the small orange reptile used to stand, but saw an unfamiliar digimon replace Gabumon, a large ferrous wolf with blue and white fur, similar to what the rookie was wearing. Garurumon.
"Care to help Agumon?" Blake asked the remaining rookie as he aimed an open palm at the girl.
"With what?" Agumon asked. "I can't see anyone under there." Blake looked at the confused Agumon then to the digimon powering up their attacks.
"Nova bla…"
"Howling blas…"
"Pyro tor…"
"Shadow me…"
"Stop!" They heard Blake yell. "She's not actuarially down there."
"You're kidding right." Koichi said unconvinced.
"Can't you see anyone down there?" Tai yelled at the the boy. "We have to get he out."
"Who?" The remaining Agumon asked. "I can't anything down there."
"Maybe your not looking hard enough." Gatomon suggested.
"Then there's the matter of her outfit." Blake added. "Correct me if I'm wrong but she has a stopwatch around her neck right."
"No! A whistle!" Tai corrected.
"But she gave her whistle to me when she left the digital world the first time." Gatomon corrected. "She's wearing that camera. You know, the one your parents got her last christmas."
"She right. But at least she's wearing a jacket." Garurumon added.
"She's not wearing a jacket." Greymon pointed out.
"I was wondering why I could see she wearing a sleeveless top and a pair of purple shorts." Takuya noted.
"It's an illusion, designed to waste our time and energy." Koichi noted. "Agumon hadn't meet Kari so the illusion doesn't affect him."
"Mind doesn't know what to fill the void with so it leaves it blank." Blake explained. "Not a bad method if your trying to fool someone who knows the target well. More then one, you'll get mixed reactions."
"If she's not here. Then where is she?" Gatomon asked, the question that was on everyone, or at least Takuya's, Tai's and Greymon's mind. She then recalled something. "Can we do what Jamie did but in reverse."
"Pardon?" Tai asked.
"She did this…" It was hard for Gatomon to explain. "She drew this symbol on the back of Kari's hand since she didn't have a digi-vice. Yolei said it looked like the greek letter for omega."
"If she used a call-recall teleportation spell then I doubt it. The recall rune needs to be recharged and it can only bring someone too the rune." Blake explained.
"We better keep moving." Koichi suggested.
"No arguments there." Matt agreed, knowing all too well that an old enemy was waiting for them. And he wouldn't be alone.
Kari moaned. She wasn't sure what happened. She tried to recall what happened before. The Gazimon swarming them, Veemon standing up to their leader, the control spire beginning to glow… and Jamie screaming before she blacked out. She recalled Gatomon telling her…
"Gatomon!" She called out now realising that her partner Digimon wasn't with her. She got to her feet and found herself in the middle of the village square. She could see a figure up ahead. "Is that you Gatomon?"
"I am pledged to obey your command, Devimon." The figure began to turn towards Kari. She recognised the figure. Leomon, but there was something very wrong. His fur was darker, and his eyes…
"I've been commanded by my master to take the digi-destine."
Kari's heart didn't miss a beat.
A flash of blue light from behind her blinded the corrupted Leomon long enough for her to run.
"Patamon! No!"
TK jerked upwards from his sleep, lying in a bed, sitting on a stairway. What was weird was the set of googles hanging from the banister. They kinda reminded him of Tai's. His thoughts turned elsewhere when he wondered where Patamon was. Last he remembered, he was talking to Kari, calming down after the fight he had with Davis over his sister. Then the Gazimon came in and restrained everyone they could, but Veemon was up against only two of them. He was getting his ass handed to him. Then the scream…
"Patamon!" TK called out. "Patamon!"
"Lose something?" TK froze when he heard the voice. "Death Claw!"
The blonde jumped out of the way before the hand hit the ground, grabbing concrete. TK rolled down the stairs towards the ground. He came to rest, battered, bruised and still breathing. He wasted no time in getting to his feet and running for cover.
He couldn't believe it. Devimon. What was he doing here?
His question was interrupted by a bight blue flash. Devimon screamed in pain from the light, and TK saw it as a chance to put as much distance between himself and his nightmare.
Davis felt his head throb and teeth chatter as he opened his eyes. As much as he wanted to stay in bed, the cold was getting to him. When he opened his eyes, he figured out why it was so cold and meet by a vision of white. Everything on the mountainside was covered in a blanket of snow.
"Great." He muttered as he shivered, not noticing that his voice echoed. "I hate the cold. Veemon?" He noticed that his partner wasn't there. Last he remembered, he was being slammed into the control spire. He tried to recall the event, the Gazimon rushing him, the blue reptile hitting the spire, hard. Jamie screaming and…
Davis' thoughts were interrupted by someone talking. It sounded like…
"Hello?" Davis called out. "Veemon? Kari? Cody? Jamie? TJ?"
"Davis!" He heard TK's voice. Davis sighed in relief, turning to face the blonde, only to find that he wasn't there. "She didn't mention any of that!" The voice continued enraged. "Your sister didn't mention anything bad about you. In fact, she didn't even mention you at all. You're the one with the big mouth!"
"If you've got a problem with me, why don't we settle it right now!" Then came his own voice from behind him. He turned out of shock rather then a need to know who was behind him.
"Seriously. I think she's sweet on you." Then came Blake's voice. He came walking from behind the control spire, Gatomon in his arms with Takuya's digimon from following, carrying the sleeping figure of Kari Kamiya in his red and black arms. They were walking towards Davis.
"What makes you say that?" Takuya asked.
"Lets just say I've been in that place once before." Blake explained as Davis ran up to them.
"Blake! Takuya!" Davis called out. "What happened to…" He stopped he reached them, but they kept going… and passed right though Davis, like they were ghosts.
"It's the same story every time and it begins the same way." Blake finished as they began to walk down the mountainside. "Boy meets girl."
"You slipped Gatomon's tail ring in my pocket didn't you." Takuya accused.
"I don't know what your talking about." Blake defected. Davis tried to follow but when they made a sharp turn, they vanished. He felt something wet on the back of his neck. When he turned, he found… bubbles? Caught in the reflection of one of them was… the Digimon Emperor! Before he could try to make sense of those thoughts, something jumped out of the snow at him, and almost ran into him.
A girl.
"Woah!' She yelled, stopping before they collided. Davis could tell one thing about her immediately. She wasn't human. And he wasn't so sure that she was a digimon either. Call it instinct. She had the shape of a human girl, wasn't bad looking either. But her skin was a lustrous gold, like she was spray painted with the valuable shiny metal, her hair as white as the snow, and her eyes, gold like a cat's pupils dilated into circles but it wouldn't be hard for Davis to imagine them a diamond shape. However, she wore a silver windbreaker jacket, a pair of navy blue skinny jeans and Doc Martians. She had a satchel over he shoulder, and a pair of googles she pulled down to her neck to get a better look at the boy she nearly ran into. "Star's above! What on Terra are doing just standing there like your waiting for Claw's latest album? We're in the middle of a tacyonic fallout. We've got to get out of here before elementals show up."
"Elemen…" Davis could answer, he was pushed out of the way by the girl. An icicle missed his head by micrometers, impaling the ground instead. Davis heard the ele-whatsit come closer, an imposing figure made of ice. The girl grabbed his arm, pull him to his feet and run pass the elemental, dragging him down the mountainside. She threw something, pulling it out of her bag and throwing it at the thing. Davis noticed the pin fall to the ground just, and knew what it was…
The explosion that followed rocked the area.
"What was that?" Matt asked, pointing up to the top of the mountain, over the village that Garurumon led them to. A large blue flash on the white capped peak were the control spire stood.
"That can't be good." Koichi noted.
"It looks like some sort of fusion explosion. Endothermic too. Your basically looking at fire so cold, it burns." Blake explained. "And turns organic material hard and brittle."
"Freezing fire?" Greymon asked, sceptical.
"I guess anything's possible." Tai shrugged.
"But why here?" Gatomon asked the million dollar question.
"I can count the number of people capable of making that explosion on my fingers and toes. Top of the list. Her." Blake answered as everyone began to run towards the entrance. "Let's split up. We stand a better chance of finding everyone sooner that way."
"Right. Koichi, Blake, Agumon, you guys come with me and Greymon." Tai ordered. "Takuya, Gatomon, Matt, Garurumon…"
"We got it." Garurumon interrupted. "All roads converge on the mountainside. We'll meet up at the path towards the peak."
"Roger."
Tai, Koichi and Blake turned left while Takuya and Matt veered right. And with each turn, the ranks began to thin. Takuya took a near by stairway when Gatomon though she heard Kari, leaving Matt and Garaurumon by themselves. Blake and Agumon were first of Tai's group to split off after spotting something disappear down an ally. Koichi thought he heard something when he passed a turn, leaving Tai and Greymon.
TK came to a stop when he was confident enough that he had ran far enough, but for added measure, he his behind a stall of some sort. Peaking over it, he was willing to deem himself safe. Devimon. Of all the digimon out there, why him? TK thought to himself.
"Why not me TK?" Devimon asked. The voice came from right beside him as Devimon grabbed the blonde haired boy and lifted him up. "Human children. So fragile." He placed a claw over TK's neck and was about to push when someone interrupted, bashing Devimon in the back of his head, dropping TK. The boy looked up to see a sight that he remembered so often. Angemon. But there was something wrong.
"There you are pretty boy." Devimon turned his attention to the Angel digimon. "I was wondering when you were going to show up. Did the Goblinmon give you trouble? Death Hand!"
It wasn't what anyone expected to see in the digital world and yet, Matt found one. There were three things wrong with the picture. The first was an adult male lying in the middle of a digimon village. The second with how much like Marcus Damon he looked like. The third was the fact that he didn't have a pulse. It was the bullet wound that told him he was dead.
"Matt?" Garurumon asked. Both were saddened by anyone's death, but in the digital world, they were the digi-destine, they were suppose to keep the peace in this world. A human death… how did he even end up here anyway.
The man had something in his hands, holding on to it when he died. It was a camera of some sort, and it looked fried. Never the less, something on that camera was either worth dying for, or worth holding on too. It wasn't hard to remove from the dead man's grip. He figured at worse, he could figure out what was on the camera.
In reality, Blake wasn't quite sure of what he was chasing, but he knew it was important to an extent, and it was shiny. Mostly because it was shiny. Okay, he was probably chasing it solely because it was shiny. He wondered if it was a quark he picked up form a few centuries of dimension jumping.
He turned a corner and found himself face to face with a large purple digimon. But he could see though the illusion. Not that there was any need to.
"I was expecting something like this. Lord Cherubimon."
"So, you're the human boy Ophanimon thought would help." The illusion Cherubimon said. "You don't look like much."
"Call me human again and I'll show you looks can be deceiving." Blake threatened. The illusion was taken aback by the aggressive tone, and by the words used. 'Call me human again…'
"You resent your humanity?"
"Just being human. I've had the misfortune of being born into a species with a history of aggressive behaviour, and exploiting other species, and their own just for having a different colour skin." Blake explained, uncomfortable with the idea that he was explaining himself to the messenger. "But Cherubimon sent you here with a message. And I'm in a hurry."
"Very well. He wanted you to know that something has corrupted the other warriors."
"And Duskmon?"
"What?! That's impossible!"
"Tell Koichi that."
"If he's here then it's worse then I thought."
"Oh yeah. Who'd have the power to do something like that?"
"I have my suspicions. Meanwhile, since you found your way to Seraphimon and Ophanimon Reborn, you need to find Cherubimon Reborn."
"Come again?"
"The celestial digimon. You found them. I sense them close by." The Cherubimon illusion's eyes widened. "You didn't realise?"
"This is the first I've heard about any orders other then getting Bokomon and Neemon to the Legendary Warriors. I'm guessing my job wasn't done yet. You guys are lucky this emperor boy is running a muck in the digital world or I would be on the battlefields of Beijing right now."
"You want gratitude?"
"I'm only remarking on the irony of the situation. Is that all because…"
"No. Ophanimon wanted to remind you that the crests were originally forged from digi-metals by the powers of the warrior beasts themselves. They are also the only things the beast sprits can be held by. Once the warrior and beast are tamed, the crests can be forged."
"Okay. But what are beast sprits?"
"They're the…"
Before the illusion could answer, he flickered and dissolved into data.
"Great. That's what you get for not paying your long distance phone bill." Blake huffed before walking along. "How much does a sentient hologram to the future cost per minute anyway?"
It took Davis a while to catch his breath and for his limbs to stop shaking, but other then that, he was fine. The girl had dragged him down off the mountain and stop for him to take a breather, now she was tapping wildly at her tablet computer.
"You good?" She asked. Davis nodded. "Clair by the way. Professor Clair Weli'sol."
"Davis. Professor?" Davis questioned the girl. She couldn't be much older then his sister.
"Yeah. Chemistry, Physics, Biology… but for sanity sakes, Clair will do fine."
"Are you an alien?"
"Something like that. I don't think it will matter much if we don't do something about this Time Fissure."
"And that thing?"
"Ice Elemental. Feeds off heat. That's why it's an ice elemental."
"Then why does it need to feed off heat?"
"The same reason why carbon based life forms eat." She looked up from her tablet to address Davis directly. "Every living thing needs energy to live. But with that analogy, it's possible to put machines in that category." She returned her eyes to the tablet when it began to beep. "Right. Arcane signature matches… Oh."
"What?" Davis asked.
"You wouldn't happen to know a Jamie Sw'et?" Clair asked looking very worried. Davis didn't even get a chance to answer before she spoke again. "Depts of the void help us. "
For the first time in a long while, Kari was alone and afraid. Hiding in one of the empty houses, she kept breathing steady. She tried to keep optimistic. She tried to be brave. And all the while, she kept hoping that someone would find her. He brother. Her friends. Her partner. Her knight in shining armour.
A sword periced the wall she was hiding behind. She screamed when she saw the shining blade pass though the stonework backing away from it. Leomon crashed though it, raised the sword and…
"Pyro Tornato!"
It was like a battle cry that Kari prayed for. It came with a crash and the heat of Agunimon's flaming round house kick. She looked up to see Leomon flown across the room and into a wall and her saviour, almost frozen in that position.
"Kari!" Gatomon ran though the hole that Takuya left in the wall and hugged her partner, glad she was safe.
"Are you okay?" Takuya asked, knelling down.
"Any later and I wouldn't be." Kari huffed, returning Gatomon's hug.
"Fist of the beast king!" Takuya turned back just in time to shield Kari and Gatomon from the lion shaped aura. He watched as the king of beasts stood battle ready. Takuya wasn't going to let him near Kari.
"My turn. Pyro Punch!" His fist meet his target, surrounded by flames of determination. And the next, and the next. Leomon stumbled back and pulled a sword, about to rush the warrior of flame.
All that happened was Takuya caught it between his palms and pulled it from his opponent's hands, sending it across the room. With one punch, Leomon roared in pain. Takuya knew there wasn't any fight left, but something strange happened. Instead of the fractal code appearing, and the digimon reverting into his digi-egg form, he just flickered and faded out.
Takuya thought it was weird and made a note to mention it later. For now, his attention turned to Kari and Gatomon. He walked over to them, and offered a hand for the chosen of light.
Kari took the gantleted hand, hoping the contact with fire wouldn't burn her. It surprised her to find the metal still warm but not burning hot. She looked into the warrior's bright blue eyes and remembered what she prayed for.
A knight in shining armour. She couldn't help but smile when she remembered that as she was helped to her feet. She was still unsteady and tired but she was upright. When she let go, she was uneasy and used Takuya's shoulder for support.
"Thanks." Kari said to her warrior.
"Don't mention it."
It was a fight that mirrored TK's nightmares. Angemon started off strong, his 'Hand of Fate' proving to be a strong advantage but soon, Angemon was taking punches. One fist hit a mark, and Angemon was on the ground, Devimon standing over him. He picked up the digital angel and held him out as far as one arm could, his other hand open and aimed at Angemon's chest.
"Angemon! You can't give up!" TK yelled.
"Time to finish this." Devimon announced. "Death h…"
"Shadow Lance!"
The spear of conviction slammed into Devimon's fist, forcing him to release the angel digimon who collapsed on the ground unceremoniously. Angemon looked up to see the digimon that intervened with his demise. A humanoid shape stood stedfast in the wind, coated in armour with lions heads as the main theme. Champion of true, untainted, unbiased darkness. Loweemon.
But both of them knew this warrior by a different name.
"Koichi?" TK said unsure of what he was seeing. The lion warrior turned to the blond, red eyes meeting the boy's baby blues. The powers of darkness were always the constant enemy in his life and now, his best friend, welding the powers he hated so much stood between Angemon and Devimon.
Koichi turned back to his enemy, who was just smiling. "What kind of self respecting creature of darkness comes to the aide of an angel?"
"The kind you'll never understand Devimon."
"Do I know you?"
"No. But I know you." Loweemon said. "You caused my friend unending pain. You dwell in his nightmares. You prey on his fears. You fuel his hate and warp his view of the world. You won't cause my friends anymore pain." He rushed at Devimon with his spear. Devimon tried to deflect the spear but it came too fast, and hit him hard.
TK watched as the two fought it out, but not really paying attention, only going over the events that just occurred, and that facts that he had already learnt. Darkness and Light, both complete opposites, but if they were natural enemies, what did that make Koichi?
He shock his head. Koichi isn't the enemy. He had to be the exception.
"Death Hand!" A bolt of dark energy shot at Loweemon, trying to take the warrior out, only he got out of the way, jumping back and powering up his own attack.
"Shadow meteor." Darkness gathered in the central lion head's mouth, only to be shot as golden light at the fallen angel digimon. Devimon felt the attack burn like fire… The true powers of darkness.
"Death Claw!" Devimon came at Loweemon, his claws managing to piece the joints in his armour. Koichi screamed in pain.
"Koichi!" TK yelled as Koichi twisted towards TK, raised his spear… and with one enrage cry, turned the spear held arm at Devimon's wrist and jabbed at it. Devimon's claw recoiled in pain as Koichi fell to the ground, his convictions obviously more powerful then Devimon's will.
"Enough of this!" Devimon shouted. "Death…"
"Hand of Fate!" A beam of energy went though Devimon's chest. The fallen angel flickered and faded out. Angemon then de-digivolved into a worn out Patamon. Koichi got to his feet, walked over to the rookie digimon, picked him up and walked over to TK.
He in turn took the passed out digimon into his arms who then moaned with "Did I get him TK?"
"You sure did Patamon." TK assured him before looking up at the warrior of darkness.
For the first time since this revelation, he smiled. An honest smile that Koichi hadn't seen in what felt like forever. Even if he still felt that the powers of darkness were the source of all his problems, at the end of the day, Koichi was still his friend, and in his hands, the powers of darkness were used for the right reasons. Too bad it took Devimon for him to realise that.
"This is bad. This is bad. This is bad. This is bad." Clair repeated. It wasn't hard for Davis to tell that her confident and stalwart demeanour was cracking as the two moved though the village. "What else could go wrong today?"
They heard a crash.
"Greymon!"
"Sorry."
"Tai!" Davis called out. There he was, the boy he looked up to. His mentor. His friend. Tai Kamiya. "Hey! Over here!"
"You know them?" Clair asked.
"Davis!" Came Tai's voice, a relief to Davis since he wasn't sure if he was real or not."
"Yes you do." Clair answered as the bushy haired boy and the large orange dinosaur came closer. A smile appeared on the girl's face.
"Davis! Have you seen Kari?" Tai asked right off the bat before noticing the alien girl. "And who and what is that?"
"Stars above. You are magnificent." Clair said to Greymon walking up to champion level digimon.
"Uh. Thanks." Greymon said. The girl was taken aback by his ability to talk.
"Stars above! It talks!" She said almost a panic before regaining her composure. "Where are my manners? Sorry. Professor Clair Weli'sol. And I take no offence if you can't remember it. And you would be?"
"I'm Greymon."
"Greymon? Curious name." She walked around the dinosaur. "You appear closely related to the Ceratosaurus from the looks of your hardened cranial skin and horns. Stop me if you begin to feel uncomfortable." She continued to circle around, stepping over his tail with care. "The 'Horned lizard' isn't an intelligent creature back on Prehistoric Terra, and your colours are… odd to say the least. And your eyes. They do have that spark of intelligence. Not to mention your personality classes with your appearance." She stopped, and looked at the older google head. "And you must be Tai. Soccer player, striker I would imagine."
"Yeah. I guess Davis talked about me."
"Hardly a word." She admitted.
"Tai." Greymon said suddenly. "We need to go."
"Go?" She turned to Greymon then back to Tai. "Go where? We're in the middle of a Time Fissure. It needs to be fixed before something… well… something very… not so nice happens."
"You know about Time Fissures?" Tai asked.
"Yes. Do you?" Clair asked in turned.
"He's right. We need to go." Tai said leading the girl, dinosaur and boy towards the meeting place. Davis moaned.
"Now my head hurts. Can someone please explain to me what's going on!"
He could now well and truly say the camera was broken. After several attempts at getting the preview working on a crack screen and possibly flat battery, Matt was ready to give up. The only reason he didn't throw the camera away was because the data might still have survived what ever trauma the camera had suffered. He sighed and leaned back onto Garurumon who was lying behind him, both of them waiting for their friends to arrive.
"Matt!" He heard Blake call out as he climbed the stairs and got to the teenage rockstar.
"Didn't find anyone?" Matt asked glumly.
"I found someone, but he couldn't stick around." Blake answered as Agumon caught up to the human. He then stopped to catch his breath.
"I didn't know humans could run so fast." Agumon huffed.
"By the way, you wouldn't happen to know how much does a sentient hologram to the future cost per minute?" Blake asked Matt while Agumon took shallow breaths.
"Uh…" Matt was caught off guard until he heard someone call out. And to his relief…
"Matt!" It was his little brother. He couldn't get to his feet fast enough, going into overprotective big brother mode.
"Are you okay?" He asked running to his brother. He could clearly see some bruises forming on his brother's skin, and Patamon was limp in his arms.
"Well, if it wasn't for Koichi, I would be subject to what ever Devimon had for me." TK explained. Matt looked up to the warrior of darkness, both relieved and grateful. He was about to express it when another voice interrupted him.
"I mean, all of this is data, represented as matter and energy. It's a fantastic research opportunity if we live long enough to actuarially study it." A girl's voice, but it's owner wasn't human. Blake on the other hand found the gold skinned alien girl very familiar.
"I knew that explosion could only be your handy work Clair Weli'sol." Blake scolded the girl.
"And only you would know." The girl, Clair returned before she leaned into Agumon. Blake turned to Tai , Greymon and Davis who were with her.
"Sorry about her, she gets all excited about new discoveries." Blake told them. "She talked my ear off once about how a tropical fungi could be used to treat the Terran Flu."
"Wait. She was still taking?" Davis asked surprised. Tai just laughed.
"It's okay. At least she dumbed it down for those who couldn't understand big words." Tai assured him. "Hang around Izzy for a while, you learn a few big words anyway. I think they might just get along."
"What was your first clue?" Matt asked.
"Oh. I know." Clair said excitedly, turning away from Agumon. "Love of natural sciences." Blake leaned into Matt's ear and whispered something. It made him moan.
"No one's found Kari yet?" Tai asked.
"I have." Blake answered as he pointed down a walk way where Takuya and Kari were walking up, Gatomon was standing on one of the warrior of flame's shoulders while Kari was being help towards the others. The flash of pain on her face told Tai that something must have happened to her sister.
"Tai!" She called out as her brother ran up to her.
"What happened?" Tai demanded.
"She twisted her ankle while she was running from a corrupted Leomon." Gatomon explained for her. "But something strange happened when Takuya defeated it."
"It just sorta faded out." Takuya described. "Like it wasn't even there."
"Then it was probably an echo of the real thing." Blake explained.
"You sure you're okay?" Tai pressed again.
"Thanks to Takuya." Kari answered.
"Then all we're missing is Jamie and Veemon." Matt informed them.
"She'll be easy to find." Clair nodded up to the mountain and the control spire on the peak.
"Then we better get going." Takuya said, and everyone groaned inwardly, but said nothing.
"Great. The weatherman was wrong about there being no snow." Davis complained, shivering. Everyone else put up with it, other then Takuya and Kari who had the benefit of Takuya's element, Garurumon who had a warm fur coat and Gatomon who had the combination of both.
Clair held her computer up to the spire, noting the readings. She pointed to it. "The source of our problems. Some sort of dimension ripple effect suddenly taken a turn for the worse."
"Hey look." Agumon pointed to a mound in the snow. "They look like snowmen." The orange digimon ran up to the figures, and tripped over something, running into the figure of snow… only to find, it wasn't completely made of snow. His claw rubbed off some snow and under it was a Gazimon, frozen in place.
Kari gasped at the sight. Everyone was horrified. Did they freeze to death? Clair on the other hand walked up to the figure and looked it in the eyes.
"They're fine." She said simply. "They're not dead. Just frozen… in time." She added to elaborate, given how cold it was.
"Anything to do with the dimension ripple?" TK asked.
"Everything actuarially." She answered, looking at the Gazimon's collars. "These things are the cause, connected to the spire some how.
"Veemon!" Davis yelled in horror. Everyone gathered around the blue reptile, frozen in mid air as he was hist against the spire, as it cracked.
"And we have our cause." Clair noted. "The diminutional fissure is cause by this spire braking and the arcane energy leaking into the physical space."
"Then how do we fix it?" Davis demanded, not wanting to leave his partner like this any longer.
"Blake's area of expertise." She pointed out as Blake kneeled by Veemon.
"Well?" Davis said. Blake smiled. The kind of smile that told a mother that her child was up to no good. He made a gesture with the index fingers of both hands, roaring them in an anti-clockwise motion. As he did, Veemon was push forwards and the spire built itself, cracks disappearing. There was a purple flash, and the snow vanished, and everyone's ears were filled with screaming.
When everything went into play, a Gazimon began to rush at Veemon, but he was intercepted by Koichi who was now just there.
All the Gazimon was now confused by how their hostages suddenly vanished, and now there were four champion digimon standing over them. And now the control spire in the area was now glowing a bright white as it was being reconfigured. It stopped glowing as Jamie's screams went from crescendo to al niente. The spire was left a marble white as the aura of foreboding and domination lifted completely and the collars around the Gazimon's necks shattered and broke off.
All of them, now released from their dark rings, were in some state of confusion. One dark ring remained however, on the head of a sun elf who began to wake from a very disturbing dream.
Yolei was almost blinded by a flash of light. Her vision was taking a while to clear but as it did, she noticed voices of the confused Gazimon around her, and the shape of a large marble spire towering over her, a beacon of hope and liberty.
"Yolei!" She jumped at Cody's voice next to her. "Are you okay Yolei?"
"I found her glasses!" Came Armadillomon's voice.
"Pass them here." Hawkmon ordered. Yolei's vision suddenly cleared, when her glasses were stuck loftily on her nose. She saw Cody standing over her, offering a hand.
"Thanks guys." Yolei said to him and the two digimon, while asking herself how Cody recovered quickly.
"Come on. The others are waiting." Cody reminded them as he helped Yolei to her feet.
On the other side of the spire, Yolei found a strange soccer game going on where Tai and Davis were trying to kick the ball past Koichi in his digimon form, while he and Takuya were trying to get it past Davis. TK and Kari watched the game unfold from the sidelines with both Agumon, Gabumon, Veemon, and Gatomon. Patamon was dosing in TK's arms.
And there was a strange alien woman, talking to someone on a tablet. Izzy by the sounds of it. They were having a very animated discussion.
"Kanabra shoots." Takuya kicked the ball towards Davis who dived at the ball… and missed. "He scores!"
"Aww man. No fair." Davis companied.
"And that's why no one's keeping score." Takuya reminded him much to the chuckles of Tai and Koichi. The girl looked away from her tablet and walked over to the game.
"I'm done here." She told Tai. "Your friend Izzy thinks that the spire has been reversed and now repels dark rings. Basically, it protects the area. It won't be hard to redo the process, but…" She noticed Yolei. "Hello there."
"Hi." Yolei managed to say as the girl walked up to her. She then did something she didn't expect.
Offer a hand.
"Clair Weli'sol."
"Yolei. It's nice to meet you… I think." Yolei replied unsure what to think. "One of Blake's friends?" She asked Tai.
"Oh yeah." Tai informed her as 'Clair' returned to her call. "Izzy will love her."
"I can tell. What's going on?" Yolei asked.
"Just passing time. Matt wanted to talk to Blake alone. Something about being out of our depth." Tai answered as he watched Matt and Blake run up to and pass the two and start calling out to Clair in a tongue that only seemed seemed to understand. There was an exchange between them, Clair showing shock while Blake remained composed.
Then Clair asked a question in Japanese. "Any particular reason you don't want them to know there's been a possible murder of a human?"
Silence fell over the entire area as digimon and digidestine alike processed what they just heard. Even Izzy stopped with his stream of questioning.
"I'll find Koraian and have him run a preliminary autopsy scan." Clair said walking further up the mountain, hanging up on Izzy. "Just make sure Jamie is okay please." She left Blake with some very uncomfortable people, and some uncomfortable questions.
"Before you ask, I was going to tell you." Blake informed them. "Among other things, I just felt it was better to tell Marcus first before anyone else."
"Why tell Boss first?" The darker Agumon asked.
"Because he might be of some relation to him." Matt pointed out. "An uncle, brother maybe. Even his father."