Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Summary: After Metal Greymon defeated Etemon. Taichi was pulled into a dimensional hole and transported back to earth. But what if that wasn't what happened, what if the hole stranded him in a completely new world.
--------------------------------------
Altered
Fate.
Part VIII.
--------------------------------------
Michi here, last time, Taichi and Taiko were attacked in their sleep by Pico Devimon, the small Nightmare Soldier using his evil attack, Devil's whisper to influence their dreams, and make them face one of their worst nightmares, namely giving into the evil within themselves, and forcing Tailmon and Agumon to dark evolve and kill their friends and enemies alike.
Thankfully, they woke up and realized what was going on, but before they could question Pico Devimon, one of the devas, Santireamon showed up and make the child digimon evolve to Black Tyranomon as reward for his psychological attack on the chosen children.
I hope they can win this fight, or our world is truly doomed, for the devas and Hikaru aren't their biggest challenge.
The biggest danger still lurks in the darkness.
Beware the lord of chaos.
They are coming.
----
"Less then a year ago, the war of the worlds came to an end." The voice started up as the pony tailed man sat within the darkness unlit by his desk lamp. "Our world has since then been left in shambles, darkness overrunning everything while the cowards and weaklings hides within their refuge."
Facing the other end of the room, the man didn't smile or frown as he watched the other figure in the room facing him, this one also hidden within the shadows beyond the light of his lamp. "A so called truce has been called it seems, as the humans have made no attack on us since Chronomon appeared."
Slamming his left hand down onto the table, the man growled as he watched it closely, a metal glove covering each section of it, and extending up over his elbow. "But don't be fooled, the war is far from over, all Chronomon did was force each side to back off and rebuild."
"The humans will return, and soon, I can feel it." Standing up with enough force to knock over his chair, the man planted his remaining hand on the table, this one looking normal as it was uncovered. "And before that happens-" Curling up his right hand into a fist as well, he snarled as he leaned further over, moving just far enough into the light to reveal light brown hair and dark brown eyes. "-We must regroup and rebuild as well."
Moving one hand to reveal the captured human behind a curtain, the sleeping body of Michi were floating silently within the first glass tube, his digimon partner within the next one, several wires connected to each of them, sent short sparks flowing from Tentomon and over into Michi's tank, sparks that didn't seem to hurt the human boy.
Walking over to gaze into the tank holding Michi, the man smiled coldly as he ran a finger over the glass, a short flare of greed visible as his mouth opened into a smirk. "And the first step can be found within our enemy itself, the humans."
"To win this war, we must all become stronger; we must all evolve to our full strength and become a lance of light to cut through the darkness around us." Removing his finger from the glass tube, the man chuckled lightly as he reached out towards a small control panel mounted on a nearby wall. "Even the world itself must evolve to overcome its scars."
"And the powers of humanity are the key to do so, yet, this child betrayed me even after all I did for him, for the both of you, he stole the devices needed to unlock the full power of evolution for all of us." Moving his hand over the control panel almost indifferently, yet still possessively, he allowed a dark smile to fill his face as he thought off the future, the glorious future that lay ahead of them. "But i know who he brought them to, and secure their return; I will dispatch you soon to bring them back to me, so that the gate will be open when I'm ready, and only then."
Giving the impression of silently agreeing, the shadowy figure stepped forward, the sole light in the room gleaming off his gold armor. "Consider this mission as good as over with, I'll return here with the items you need or die trying, this I swear on my life to you who saved me from death."
----
Santiramon reared upwards, her tongue slithering out as her fangs dripped with venom while her tail holding onto her halberd tightly moved around to her front. "You shall both die before the sun raises, human scum!"
Black-Tyranomon roaring in satisfaction as he charged forward, jaws snapping wide open as drool flew from his jaws. "And I shall delight in tearing your bodies apart."
Taichi merely growled in return as he grabbed his digivice. "We'll see about that, Agumon." No matter how much he hated Skull Greymon, and the moment of fear it had brought to him having to see himself forced his partner to obtain that form again, even if it was just a dream, wouldn't stop him, he had understood it at last, he couldn't afford to doubt himself, not when others needed his strength. "Go for it Agumon, I trust you!"
The orange digimon grinning as he rushed forward, eyes twinkling. "Yeah, we've already learned not to doubt ourselves, if we fall down, we just have to get back up and try again!" Glowing brightly as light flowed into him, Agumon allowed himself to evolve, fully trusting his partner again. "Agumon Evolves too, Greymon!"
The larger dinosaur like digimon braced himself as Black-Tyranomon crashed into him, his own jaws wide open, but lacking the drool shower as he roared loudly before shoving back against the adult stage virus digimon. "Even someone like you can't hope to get us down, not again!"
Showing Black-Tyranomon away roughly, Greymon smiled as light erupted off his body again, the light forcing even the virus digimon to back off. "Greymon evolves too, Metal-Greymon!" His perfect stage form towering up over them all, leaving even black-Tyranomon stunned as he took a step forward. "We'll never give in to our pride again!"
Using his metallic arm, Metal-Greymon battered the adult virus digimon backwards, taking no small amount of satisfaction from hearing the tree he hit shattered from the force of the impact. "Even if we give into our darkness and screw up, we'll never give up; we just have to try again, Giga Destroyer!" Chest plates slamming open, Black-Tyranomon barely got a chance to scream as the missiles loaded, then fired.
As the smoke and fire erupted out, Santiramon merely moved her gaze to the side and watched Taiko, the girl unresponsive even to the comments from her male counterpart. "Interesting, it seems you have doubts child, while he doesn't." Snarling as coldly as she could, Santireamon merely grinned as she moved backwards. "This was just an opening strike to test you children, Black-Tyranomon was a fool to rush in like that, but beware my other servants in this forest, they will be more then enough to kill you all."
Giving a soft gasp, Taiko closed her eyes as each comment from Santiramon dug deep into her, feeling her with dread as she dropped to her knees. "Shut up, I'm not weak, I'm not weak."
Drawing back as she saw the impact of her words, Santiramon's chuckle could be heard for several seconds after her departure into the surrounding forest. "None of you will live to see the sunrise, least of all you, girl, with such weakness and fear, you won't offer me any kind of problem.."
Turning away from the blast site, Metal-Greymon roared as all he could see of the snake deva was her tail slithering away, as well as Taiko dropping to her knees. "Dammit, she got away." Taking a few steps forward, he stopped as he felt Taichi focus more on the messy haired girl then the deva. "Taichi, should we follow her?"
The answer came from Tailmon, the white and purple feline digimon doing her best to comfort her partner. "Yes, we can't let her get anymore help." Turning her sorrow filled blues towards Taiko; she did her best to smile. "I'll take care of Taiko; I won't let anyone get near her, trust me."
Nodding once, Taichi rushed off, Reaching out hand to grab a hold of Metal-Greymon's metallic arm as the large vaccine digimon took of in a run, trees snapping as he pushed him through the forest in pursuit of Santiramon. "We'll come back as soon as we finish her off, until then, stay inside the tree."
"We will." Tailmon muttered out in response as she kneeled down next to her partner digimon. "Taiko, you mustn't let it get to you, you're not a child of darkness, you're a child of light, no matter what anyone else may say or think." Wrapping her tail around her partners head, she sat there, watching her partner as soft sobs started up. "I know you're the right one."
----
It had been one long, frantic hunt through the forest to them, but finally, as they passed a small gap in the trees, Taichi spotted the white snake like digimon slithering across the ground. "There she is, right below us!!"
Santiramon stopping in as she became witness to one heck of entrance from her enemies, seeing as Metal-Greymon came crashing down through the trees, scattering the leaves on the ground and knocking over the group of digimons hiding below them. "Hold it right there Santiramon."
Snapping out his finger as he spoke, Taichi glared down at the snake deva, the white and purple colored digimon hissing as she moved backwards a bit. "You think you can away with your stunt? That we're just going to give up this easily?"
"I had hoped for it, child." The reply came as Santiramon reared back, her mouth snapping wide open. "But you can't get what you want all the time, Treasure Halberd!"
Rolling off to the side, Metal-Greymon momentarily followed the halberd shaped poisonous light as it ripped into a tree after missing him, a faint shudder running through him as the tree withered and died before him. "You, you really are a snake, aren't you?"
Santiramon merely hissing at first, then laughed as she slithered up another tree stump, her halberd cutting the bark of its side as she stopped moving. "What's the matter, don't tell me you're afraid of getting stung?" Snapping her mouth open once more, she chuckled as she fired off another poison attack followed by yet one more, almost hitting Metal-Greymon each time. "Having trouble fighting with the brat along with you?"
Snapping her tail out and jabbing her halberd into the cyborg digimon foot, she barely showed any emotion or anger as the tree was ripped apart by the angry digimon, her speed being just a tad faster then him, the swipes missed, until she saw the perfect chance, wrapping herself around his non metallic hand . "If he's in your way, I'll help you get rid of him!"
Opening her mouth as she spoke, the poisonous light flared up, aimed right at Taichi, or it was, until her body was hammered into a tree, her mouth shutting as she merely faced her opponent. "You know, you are really starting to tick me off? All I want to do is to kill him, not you, not your Tailmon friend!"
"He's my friend, my partner, and I trust him more then anyone else!" Responding with that sentence as he pulled his arm back, Metal-Greymon roared as he prepared to strike once more, hoping that this time, he'd crush her back and get her off his body. "I'd do anything for him."
"Anything?" her voice low cut, Santiramon spun around to face Taichi on Metal-Greymon's back, her eyes glowing as she fangs dripped poison onto the ground. "Are you willing to die for him?"
Feeling her loosen her grip, Metal-Greymon barely had time to do anything as he saw her mouth open up, the light glowing inside of it again. "Taichi, get down, get off me I can't!"
Santiramon's laugh filled the air as she let lose with her preferred attack. "Venom Axe!" Her voice growing to a roar filled with the toxic light, burning anything it touched including Metal-Greymon as he reared up in his full height, tossing his partner from his back and down his tail.
The laugher of Santiramon ringing out through the area as Taichi watched his partner stumble backwards, his metallic chest plates hissing and steaming while a green color spread across his flesh. "Metal-Greymon, no, Metal-Greymon!" Pushing himself up as his partner started glowing with devolution, Taichi stopped as the snake deva's halberd jammed into the ground before him. "You monster, how could you do this to him?"
"He's a traitor to his own kind." the reply brutally came as Santiramon slithered closer, her eyes glowing as her fangs dripped venom onto the ground, his halberd torn lose and re-aimed at the messy haired human boys neck. "All Traitors deserved to suffer in death, and I did no earn the title of ruthless executioner for nothing."
Pressing herself up close to Taichi, she smirked as she saw him try to escape by moving backwards, but hitting the side of a tree instead. "As for humans I show even less mercy, you all helped destroy my home world, you gave rise to the monster that is, Milleniumon, it was humanity that wrecked everything."
Taichi's eyes narrowed at that, his anger rising as once again he found himself accused of thing he didn't know about, nor had anything to do with in anyway. "Liar, you don't care about that, you're just using your past as an excuse to kill, to strike out at innocent humans and digimons, just because you couldn't do anything yourself!"
The rest of his word were lost as Santiramon roared in anger, her mouth opening wide open, light glowing within it. "Shut up, I did do something, I fought in the last great battle, I was there when the world was torn in half." Lashing out with her tail, she hissed as Taichi dived out of the way. "I helped devise this plan, to dump our foe on this world."
"So your a coward, unwilling to face death in a battle to free your world." Turning around, his crest of courage glowing as he faced down the snake deva, the messy haired boy took one step towards his opponent. "I've faced monsters who wanted to rule the digital world, to enslave everyone under their dark will, it was a world I didn't know about, a world I could have turned my back on."
Marching past the halberd, his eyes narrowing as he approached the surprised digimon, Taichi ignored the nervous twitch in the white colored tail. "But I didn't, I kept fighting with everything I had, refusing to back down and give up completely, and together with my friends, we won over our enemies."
Stopping right before Santiramon, Taichi stared right into the Snake deva's eyes, his hands clenched up at his sides as the light of his crest lit up the space between him and the digimon. "And even Devimon and Etemon, twisted and corrupt as they were, didn't resort to such a lowly trick as you did. They faced us in battle, confident in their own powers, without needing to kill our spirits first."
Behind him, Metal-Greymon's devolution glowing stopped, the green color draining from his body as he stood up, eyes and body starting to glow with new power as he took one step forward. "I can, feel it, your courage Taichi!" Lashing out with his metallic arm, the cyborg digimon watched as Santireamon was sent flying, the halberd torn lose from her tail and crashing into the ground before Taichi. "I can win this fight!"
Rising up from her landing spot, Santiramon hissed loudly as her poisonous light started forming inside her mouth, her focus on Metal-Greymon. "You, for your insults, I shall let my venom attack dissolve the both of you!"
Not replying to her statement, Taichi merely watched the snake Deva with cold righteous anger as Metal-Greymon's chest plates opened up. "No, you'll be the one who falls today, but at least you'll go down in an honest battle."
As his words hit her, Santiramon felt her attack fade away, her eyes focusing solely on Metal-Greymon as the taller, cyborg digimon's glow flowed into his missile chamber, the twin weapons glowing brighter and brighter. "Bastard digimon, how can you do this? You're a traitor to our kind, siding with humans even when you know what they have done."
Pouring all of his strength into this one attack, metal-Greymon merely listened as Santiramon ranted lose. "I still don't know anything, but I do know that Taichi is not like the humans you have spoken off, he'll never seek to destroy our world."
Slamming his metallic arm down, Metal-Greymon closed his eyes as he felt his attack firing. "Giga Destroyer!"
The resulting Explosion and scream of rage and pain from Santiramon filling the air caused him flinch with regret as he felt his body regress back into his child level.
Agumon merely watched the burning tree before them. "Taichi, why doesn't this feel like a victory, we won over her didn't we?"
The reply as low spoken as the question, didn't offer much in the way of cheering up. "Because it wasn't, all we did, was to delete a desperate, angry digimon taking out her anger on us, and if we hadn't done it, she would have killed us, and who knows how many else."
The answer hung in the air for a few minutes as the fire died down before term, Agumon closing his eyes. "Let's just go back to the camp Taichi."
"You can't leave yet, not after such a great display of power, young man, but even now, you're still no ready to face your destiny."
Turning around, Taichi opened his mouth to spit out a comment, when all he saw was a powerful white light washing over him and Agumon, the intensity of it forcing his eyes shut as he struggled to avoid it. "Oh come on, we just get rid of a lunatic digimon, can't we get a break before another one shows up?"
As the light faded away, Taichi huffed in anger and looked up ready to let lose with some choice words at their new foe, only to stop as all feelings left his body as he felt a powerful wind hit him, almost knocking him flat onto his back, the ground below him giving of a distinct metallic sound with step he took backwards in the wind. "OH come on, hasn't the world done enough?"
Even as he finished, the wind stopped blowing, letting him fall flat on his face as he was completely unprepared for it, the impact earning a cry of pain from him as he felt metal hit his hands and left chin. "I hate this dimension, I really do." Breathing in heavily as he lay there, he took the time to look around him, frowning as all he was saw was clouds, fog and a metallic ground. "Great, more stuff to be nervous about."
Sometimes this hero stuff really left him with a feeling of resentment, just how could anyone keep up with this for so long, always fighting, fearing for ones life and getting ambushed every second day.
"And just where is Agumon, doesn't he usually follow me everywhere?" Muttering out the question as he stood up, Taichi grunted as he just picked a direction and started walking, all concerns and fears lost as mere bitterness and a desire to just curl up and sleep filled him. "Agumon, you around here!"
"I'm, afraid this is only something you need to see child, after all, your destiny depends on your resolve."
Turning towards the direction he thought the voice had come from, Taichi grumbled as he stumbled forward on the metallic surface, doing his best to avoid getting lost in this blasted place. "Just who are you, what did you mean with my destiny?"
"You have a lot to learn child, not just about yourself, but others as well." The answer coming from right behind him, had Taichi spin around to face the hooded digimon, only to find nothing but more fog, and the same silence that had greeted him ever since coming here. "You must face the facts child, you're not just lost in an alternate reality; you're lost in time as well."
The last part of the sentence earned a rapid series of eye blinks from Taichi as he tensed up. "What the heck do you mean, who are you, what is this place?"
Silence reigned for several minutes as the messy haired holder of courage slowly turned around in a circle, his eyes narrowed as each second went past. "Well? Answer me dammit?"
"I am the only one who knows of your true destiny child." The cryptic response came once again from right behind him, but unlike the other times, heavy hands landed on the child's shoulder, steadying him as the fog faded away, and revealing something the boy had never hoped to see in his life. "I told you boy, you are lost in both space and time."
Before them, the nightmarish city of Tokyo spread out in all directions, the derelict buildings and streets spreading out away from them, and beyond them, were signs of war, as buildings had crumbled away, or merely burnt out. "It can't be, I can't be home. This is just a nightmare, just another nightmare."
"This is no mere dream, this is the truth boy." Speaking harshly, Wisemon released his hold On Taichi, letting the boy drop to his knees from shock. "This is your world, today, at this very moment." Spreading his arms, light flared up around them, illuminating the metallic roof of the Tokyo towers observation deck. "This is how it all ends!"
Scrambling to get back, Taichi shivered as a sudden powerful gust of wind ripped through the area, his eyes closing to avoid the pain of its pressure, his hands struggling to find something to hold onto as harsh, cold laughter filled the air around them. "But how can this be my world, I've only been gone for..."
The rest of his sentence was lost as he got a good look at the source of the wind, his whole body freezing as the serpentine body glided across the heavens, its two tipped tail ripping out the front of a building as the digimon it belonged to did a quick turn to face the direction it had come from. "Seadramon?"
It sure looked like it, yet Seadramon didn't have that kind of armor around it, nor was it that big, and he sure as heck didn't remember it flying through the air. "Ultimate Stream!"
A loud scream tore itself out of Taichi's mouth as a powerful blue laser shot out from the nose section of the Seadramon's armor, the powerful beam cutting right through a building before them, them into the tower and past it, the whole place shaking as Taichi slid back across the roof. "What is this?"
"Metal-Seadramon." Replied Wisemon as he followed the beam of light race across the skyline, only to see it deflected by a much smaller digimon standing on a battered and broken sky scraper in the distance. "And that digimon over there is, Belial-Vamdemon."
Slowly standing up, Taichi had to steady himself as he watched the two digimons in question, Metal-Seadramon firing off two more of those laser blasts, each one deflected by that Belial-Vamdemon character. "What's going on, why are they fighting in my home town, why are they even here?"
Wisemon slowly clapped his hands, and lowered his head as the fog glided in around them again, hiding everything with ease from view. "You were lost in time and space child, thus time itself were altered, your destiny derailed." Dispelling the fog again, Wisemon merely watched as Taichi took a step back in shock at the sight before him. "Your friends did their best to win, but without you, the group broke apart, and by the time they got together and rallied themselves, they had already lost, hope had forgotten everything about them all and had fallen to the force of darkness."
"Love was torn apart by her own negative memories and feelings, even now she can't believe in herself."
"Sincerity nearly lost herself to greed and pride, but in the end, she prevailed, yet lost."
"Friendship sunk into the deepest depression, since his brother never returned, all that remains in him is anger over his own failure to be there for him, and so he walks his own path, never trusting anyone again."
"Knowledge won, but despite all of his wisdom, he can't win without a sword and shield to protect and fight for and with him."
"Reliability does his best, but it is clear to all, that he had neither the light nor hope needed to win."
"Hope was lost, since you were never there to save him."
"And through all off that, even light faded away, without the support and strength of the other traits, she fell before the herald of darkness."
Ending his monologue, Wisemon clapped his hands and allowed the fog to flow in around them, shielding them from sight and sound, the only sign of his emotions being a short glance down at the devastated child before him. "You have been gone for three years Yagami, and in that time, darkness have won out, humans and digimons alike fight, but in the end, none of the sides will win, light is lost, hope has vanished, and evil rules."
As the fog lifted for the final time, all Taichi could see were the forest of nightmares, Santiramon's halberd still stuck in the ground before him. "My friends, my home, I failed them all." "No, even now, this can be changed." Holding out both hands, Wisemon closed his eyes and started talking in the ancient digimon langue, chanting words of power and magic. "If you can help me save this world, I can help you return you to the moment you were prevented from reaching."
"For there shall be born a controller of a darkness beyond the darkest night, with the fires of destruction at its beg and call, the world shall be flooded by darkness, opposing this controller shall be two stars born from another realm, around them shall spin four lights, and before them, human and digimons blood shall spread, and when the time is right, the stars shall released an arrow that will split the heavens apart."
"So says Wisemon, the mad digimon." Laughing as he slipped into the shadows, Wisemon slowly faded from sight, the few digimons who had been level headed enough to pay attention had been standing around with a frozen heart, the few tales of the mad digimon able to see the future coming to mind as they awoke to the destruction around them again.
"The time of devastation is almost here at last."
"Beware the fallen knights, child."
"Your destiny."
"Starts now."
"Treasure Arrow!" Eyes growing wide, Taichi barely managed to gasp from shock before the first shockwave blew him over, the ground shaking as trees went up in fire around him as each light of destruction rained down from above, each of them aimed towards the area where Taiko had been left at.
Majiramon, the dragon deva had returned, to finish what Santiramon failed to do.
----
Well, this was really unwanted, Tailmon darkly thought as she hissed at the digimon above them, her mind doing overtime as it tried to find a way out of this mess. "First that snake digimon, now dragon boy's here to finish us off." Her eyes briefly moving to face the last location of she had seen Metal-Greymon fighting at. "You picked a really good time to run off boy, Taiko, get up; we have to fight him off."
Taiko shivering as she looked up. "I can't, you know I can't, the powers of light were never meant for me, I can't control them."
"Then don't try, just find some other strength or power you feel more comfortable with, just don't just lie down and give up." Tailmon spat back as she returned her attention towards the dragon deva descending from above. "If you do that, you'll be letting every one down again!"
Her last sentence working much like a slap, the messy haired girl looking down sharply as she fought to hold back her tears at the memories flowing back, of unpleasant past times, of feeling useless, worthless, nearly letting the others die because she doubted her given trait. "I didn't mean to."
Majiramon's dragon face lighting up with dark enjoyment as he made a perfect touchdown, knocking up dirt and rocks, his tail cutting down several trees. Just give up child, your partner's left you alone this time, her soul to unsure and weak to give you the strength needed to win, just surrender now and I'll let you live."
His last words causing the feline digimon to see red, her eyes stood straight up as she hissed loudly. "Listen buddy, I didn't face down all those bad guys, just to lose to some oversized lizard, let alone one who's sided with darkness."
The dragon deva's face glowed with rage as he took several steps forward, leaving him to tower up over Tailmon and Taiko with pure rage shinning off him. "I have never sided with darkness; my mission is and has always been to save the digital world, my digital world, for I am a servant of the light."
Eyes gleaming with regret, he watched the feline digimon below. "And if I have to sacrifice this world to save my own, then so be it." Smirking a bit more reassured, he chuckled a bit as he reared back. "And besides, this world is far to corrupted to be saved anyway!"
Tailmon's eyes flashing with raw anger at the ruthless way this digimon spoke, his willingness to sacrifice countless digimons to save his own hide, it was far too much, no one she had fought in the past had ever spoken like that before, no one. "You bastard, no, you monster!"
"Yes, I am a monster, one of the servants of the gods." Lashing out, his claws dug into the ground before him, fire slipping out between his teeth as he laughed. "And our gods told me, no, us to save the world with any means."
Doing a flip into the air, Tailmon let her anger guide her, fuel her power as she landed on the back of the hand that had attempted to knock her off balance. "What kind of a god, would call for the destruction of a world, what kind of a servant of light would seek to kill millions."
Majiramon roaring in anger he tore his hand free, Tailmon clinging onto it as he pulled up into the air. "One who has seen the truth, your world is utterly corrupt, unfit to exist, our plan is the only salvation for millions of other digimons to live in freedom, and if the remaining digimon in this world have to die to save my home, then so be."
Mouth snapping wide open, dragon fire roared to life inside of it, his eyes alit with raw madness as he took aim at his unwanted opponent Tailmon, pure intent to delete her clearly shown. "Now die, Fire Breath!"
Tailmon roaring out as she once more did an air flip, her jump carrying her mostly over the fire ball aimed at her, leaving only the tip of her tail to suffer a burn mark, pure pain spreading across her face as she fell back down towards ground level. "Taiko, you have to help me!"
The messy haired girl eyes tightly closed as she stood up, her mind just as inflamed with righteous anger as Tailmon, her mouth spreading out into a smirk. "No more, I won't let anymore down, I won't allow my fear of darkness to control me, I may not understand the powers of light, but I know I don't need them to win!"
"All I need is to trust in myself, and the support of my friends and my partner!" Roaring out the last bit, her body started glowing as pure white light flowed up around her form, its color shimmering faintly as it shifted from pure white to a far more gentle golden glow, warming the air around it. "I won't let anyone down again."
Her d-terminal beeping loudly, she smirked as the digi mental of light floated out of it, the golden light around her shifting around until it started entering into the digimental, lighting it up. "Roy, Michi, Sora, all of you, please, lend me your strength as well!"
Grabbing her digimental, she yelled out loudly as it flowed around like liquid gold before reforming into a new shape, a different crest glowing on it briefly as it flew down into Taiko's hand. "Tailmon!"
The feline digimon hissing loudly as far more power flowed into her, her body erupting with golden light as she spun around in midair to land gracefully on the ground. "Tailmon, evolves too, Bastemon!"
The feline humanoid smirking as she landed on the ground, her body alive with far more power then before. "Alright Taiko, now this is your true power." Facing up towards, Majiramon, she smirked as she jumped upwards, her claws clicking out as she drew closer to him. "Now, let's see you survive this, bastard!"
The dragon deva roaring out in anger as he spat out another massive fireball, the heat causing the air around it to shimmer and steam as it cut through the air.
Doing a perfect flip jump, Bastemon purred as she felt the heat of the attack pass by below her, her eyes glowing as power flowed out of her, and into her attack. "Helter Skelter!" The ice blast ripping across Majiramon's body, leaving the flesh frozen in places as ice covered the dragon devas whole upper body. "I'll delete you as I did Vajiramon."
Her confidence shattering less then a second later as the ice did the same thing, shards of it flying away from Majiramon as he roared darkly, his body shimmering with power as he lifted off from the ground. "Insolent brat, you think you can understand my reasons, make a fool of them?"
"I was ordered by the gods to do this." Snapping open his mouth, red light flared up inside of it. "And I will carry out that order, even if it kills me!" Letting lose the hundred treasure arrows, he chuckled as Bastemon screamed loudly, each arrows impact sending up a large chuck of dirt and smoke.
The while thing ending with Bastemon crashing into the hiding tree, her body barely got a chance to slide down the side of it before a massive, scaly tail hammered into her, sending both her and the burning tree crashing back over. "To even think you could beat the gods, is unforgivable."
Lashing out with one clawed hand, he laughed as he hammered her further into the ground, letting his greater weight crush her slowly. "A monster like you, a traitor, a child of the false human light doesn't deserve to live." Laughing as Bastemon's scream stopped, he roared back up. "All of you deserve to die, when Milleniumon arrives, he'll give you all the suffering and pain you deserve, until then."
"Bastard." Coughing out the word, Bastemon did her best to rise back up, her eyes flashing with anger, power glowing around her claw tips. "I'll never."
Majiramon simply responded by letting off a final attack, digging the feline humanoid digimon further into the ground, her body glowing brightly as it vanished among the flames. "Let the fire purify your dark soul child, it is your only hope for salvation!"
"Bastemon?" The barely whispered word reached him, followed by Taiko's body as she rushed past him, the golden light having vanished from her. "Bastemon!"
The dragon deva laughing as he watched her stumble back from the heat of the dying flames, and right back into his waiting hand. "Now human, you will come with me, your presence is needed to bring the dark god here." Taiko's scream fo surprise and fear ringing out as Majiramon lifted up for good, his dark laughter filling the area.
"Taiko?" A weak and pain filled voice spoke softly as a cream colored paw reach up over the edge of the once fire filled hole Bastemon had been pushed into. "I'll save you Taiko, I'll save you."
----
"Rejoice my friend; the digital network is complete at last." Makuramon boasted as he watched Etemon and then ninja like digimons finish the final cable connections, light flowing across each segment briefly as a faint hum started up. "At long last, everything will be finished, and the salvation of my world can begin."
Etemon grunting as he wiped away some sweat from his forehead. "No, the network is still offline, just because the powers running, doesn't mean its working." Casting a look over his shoulder, the monkey man digimon clenched up his left hand, power sparkling around it. "But it has done more then enough to empower me already."
"Which bring me too this." Turning rapidly and glaring down the other more monkey like digimon, Etemon began to advance on him. "When will you bring me the body of Hikaru? You promised to remove the human problem from this world."
Makuramon grunting as he folded his arms across his chest, a dark glint filling his face. "Two of them have proven to be quiet the warriors indeed; my link with Majiramon has shown me this." Spreading his arms out wide, the monkey man like digimon started glowing with power. "But it stills doesn't change the fact that Santiramon and Vajiramon have been deleted."
"Of the twelve deva, only I Makuramon and Majiramon now remain." Shaking his head, the monkey deva began to chuckle as he rose to his full height. "But that matters not, for the last part, the very human problem is coming here, Majiramon will bring me the one who will open the gate."
"And bring Milleniumon into this world." Watching the morbid expression on Etemon face, Makuramon started laughing loudly, one hand rising up before his face, his crystal ball held loosely in it. "The death of your world will ensure the survival of mine, so I have been told."
Etemon, listing to the suddenly mad ramblings of the digimon before him, gave a short shrug of his shoulders. "I told you already, this network is not operational and I don't think I'll turn it on anytime soon."
Merely watching him at first, Makuramon's face nearly split apart from the smile filling, pure evil and malice clearly seen on it as he took a step backwards. "Actually, that won't be a problem, I know you built the network, but you can't run it yourself either, for that task, you needed a special slave."
Etemon's sunglasses slid down from his face at the words from the deva were spoken, anger flooding his face as he felt his pride take a beating. "How true, but if you kill those humans, I'll bring." Ending his sentence, the virus digimon didn't say much as he watched Makuramon lower his crystal ball. "So, you think you can win over me in a fight, over these digimons as well, fool, they follow me, not you."
"No Etemon, they follow us." A third voice broke in as the sound of metal hitting metal sound out, a cold laugh following as Etemon began to turn around this face this new digimon. "Finally, I can pay you back for what you did"
Turning to regard his new opponent, Etemon did his best not to laugh as he watched the badly beat up digimon standing menacingly on top of an exposed cable. "And just where did they dig you out from Nanomon? The same hole you crawled into to escape me?"
Nanomon, a small cyborg digimon looking much like a high tech paint can with legs and arms, chuckled as his four feet carried him forward rapidly. "You could say that, and for forcing me to rot in that desert hole for ruining my great plan, I'll pay you back by deleting you Etemon, permanently."
Etemon's voice growing cold as he spoke, he still took several steps backwards. "When I learned you wanted to convert my digital network into a mean of enslavement, I had to stop you." Lifting up his arms in a defensive stance, he faced both Makuramon and Nanomon at once. "Now I see I should have deleted you instead of allowing you to live."
Striking a bizarre pose, Etemon's face split wide open as he held up one hand over his head, its index finger extended, his other hand curled up behind his back. "Still, it's never too late to correct a mistake, Dark Spirits!" The curled up hand emerging rapidly as the ball of dark energy surged into life, lashing out in a perfect move aimed right for Makuramon, rather then Nanomon. "But even I know you're just a small fry compared to this guy."
Makuramon's laughter rang out as he did his best to jump over the attack, ignoring the following explosion as he landed on his feet. "How true, still, I might need your help later on, so no deleting for now!" Lashing out with his own hand, the monkey digimon watched as his crystal treasure ball impacted Etemon's forehead, crushing the sunglasses and knocking him down. "If fact, if you stay quiet and do as you're told, I might protect you from Nanomon's revenge."
A loud protest from Nanomon at the prospect of losing his precious revenge was ignored by the two monkey digimons. "Why are you doing this, we had a deal."
"The deals changed, we're done with the dark network ahead of time." Makuramon breathed out as he watched Etemon start to crawl backwards a bit, only to stop when he pointed his crystal ball at the puppet digimon. "And with only me and Majiramon left, the plan to destroy my enemy is bust."
Nanomon laughing as he jumped up onto Etemon's chest, his organic eyes twisting downwards enough to stare right into his hated foes. "They freed me, and I told how the network could help, how it can draw their enemy, Milleniumon into this world and trap him, saving everything for them, and giving me what I want, revenge on everyone."
Lowering his crystal ball, Makuramon sighed loudly. "It wasn't all a lie you know, Milleniumon was born from the fusion of a human made digimon Kimeramon, and the dark master Mugendramon, living only to serve the one who rules our world, a twisted hate filled human known only as the Dark One."
"The two of them revived several deleted dark digimons, and generated even more, spilling war onto our world for their own amusement, our hope for the chosen ones to save us were lost, as each of them was killed off or joined the Dark One, serving as the council of seven."
Makuramon voice dropped to a faint whisper. "Of my fellow devas, all but the four you met were killed off."
Etemon remained silent as he listen, then slowly chuckled as he felt anger and hurt flow through him, his hand reaching up to grip Nanomon who had turned away to listen to the story of his ally. "My world is enslaved, overrun by darkness and dying bit by bit, and you wish to destroy all hope of salvation by dumping your problems onto ours."
His voice growing in pitch along with his anger, Etemon tossed Nanomon off his chest and did a quick jump back to his feet, his trusted lucky microphone within his hand in seconds. "Now then, let's see if you can win against me now."
Makuramon merely chuckled as he shot off his crystal ball, not even showing the least bit of concern as he faced down Etemon. "You should join me; it's the only way you will be able to survive." His words followed by the army of Kougamon who had worked on the network joining the monkey deva. "Just as your work force did."
Laughing in response, the virus digimon lashed out his free hand, knocking Nanomon away with no trouble at all. "Right, I see things are not in my favor, so I think I'll have to." Tensing up with green power flowing around his hands, Etemon watched as the various digimons took up positions around him, weapons and lone crystal ball gleaming dangerously. "Exit stage Left, Dark Musical!"
Makuramon first reaction was to blink as Etemon took a long jump to the side, his mouth opening as the microphone was lifted up. "No, Treasure Ball!"
And then the world was a pain filled, ear hurting nightmare of pain and suffering as a really bad musical number started up, his crystal ball shattering in mid flight followed by several cries of pain from the Kougamons around him. "Damn you, Etemon."
The puppet digimon laughing as he vanished over the edge, a single wave of the free hand the last thing he saw of him for the time being. "Damn you."
"You should have let me finish him off." Nanomon spat out as he jumped down, reaching out to grab the wires of the dark network, finishing the final connections, nodding briefly as they network started humming. "Good, it's ready, all we need is the means of cutting through the dimensional wall, and we should be ready to roll."
Responding with a nod, Makuramon turned away, watching the cracked cloud shield stretching out below them, it's grey color shimmering as the hole directly below them continued to grow wider. "In just a few hours, our world will be saved."
----
Standing still on the tree branch, Karatenmon watched silently as the dragon digimon rose u pinto the air, his swords held loosely as he focused on the human girl. "My lord, one of your enemies have been captured by one of the new invaders, shall I follow them?"
A shadow behind wavering as the tall form of Devimon gazed out from it, his eyes narrowing in thought as he gazed at the digimon above them. "No, the return of the child of courage trouble us, far more then a child who can't even control her own powers."
Flicking out a hand softly, the demon digimon smirked as he watched Karatenmon bow. "My loyal servant, I want you intercept the child of courage, and destroy him." Giving a soft laugh at the simple nod he got in response, Devimon receded back into the darkness. "Once he is dead, return to my side, Hikaru's usefulness has almost run out, his fallen light powers, will restore me completely and this wonderful world of darkness, shall be mine to rule."
Fading away completely, the faint laughter could be heard as Karatenmon took flight, his wings carrying him across the night sky easily, his red eyes flaring up with dark malice and intent.
----
Out of breath and huffing badly, Taichi and Agumon crashed past the last tree between them and the hiding tree, smoke pouring up from countless blast holes in the ground, as well as the torn in half tree lying before them. "Taiko, Tailmon, Taiko!"
Agumon, sniffing the air while his partner yelled out for the others, growled as he focused on a rather large blast hole still sporting some fire as well as the smoke. "Taichi, over there, it's Tailmon."
Snapping his head in the direction Agumon had shown, Taichi didn't waste another second as he rushed forward, clearing the distance in less then a few seconds, sliding into a kneeling position as he tossed away some of the dirt, digging out not the cat like digimon, but rather a small puppy like digimon. "Tailmon, Tailmon."
"She's a Plotmon now Taichi and I don't think she'll wake up from getting shaken around like that."
Groaning loudly, Plotmon cracked up one eyelid. "Taiko, he took Taiko, to that hole up there."
The rest almost lost as the puppy digimon passed out, her breathing ragged and labored as she was picked up; Taichi silently took off his outer shirt and wrapping her up in it. "So, we're outnumbered and out powered again and they have a member of our team as a hostage. Agumon, you up for it?"
Behind him, the reptile digimon slowly nodded as he moved forward to fall in next to his partner. "She's a friend; of course I'm ready for it."
"Then we're going." Turning to regard the horizon, Taichi snarled as he watched the growing hole in the sky above, the faint outline of it visible to him even in the darkness of the night. "We're going up there, to save everyone."
----
"Light and darkness, always struggles to win over the other with the same obsessive zeal, for just as brutal and destructive as darkness is, so is light, after all, for light to win, all those who serve darkness or reject the complete embracement of light, even that with the slightest trace of darkness, must be destroyed."
"But would that be a victory, after all, the only thing left behind without a trace of darkness within it, would be the light itself, and if darkness were to ever win, everything would die, for none would ever be able to live without light."
Wisemon's voice floated out from his hood as he watched the sky above him, is head tilting to side as a faint whisper reached him, arcane symbols floating across the sky as he rubbed hand across his chest. "I can not see it perfectly, all I can see, is that this time, things will be different."
"The war destroyed this world along with their world, yet instead of seeking to repair the worlds, those who survived hid themselves away, putting tier faith in gods and power hungry monsters, and so we went to war again, seeking to utterly destroy the other side."
Pausing, Wisemon lifted up both hands and closed his eyes as the air shimmered, turning light blue around him. "Chronomon was the result of a desperate wish, in the end all that power did nothing but offer a short reprieve from darkness, for the fear of darkness had grown to great."
"Was the wish for destruction too much for a god to bear?"
Looking over his shoulder, Wisemon started long and hard as the
ornate silver dais rising from the blue floor, a golden digi egg
glowing and spinning atop of the dais endlessly. "A last
desperate attempt by you to stall it, to prevent the end of it all,
but even you started to see the truth that this world was beyond
salvation."
Turning his head to the side, the robe wearing
digimon sighed as he watched the four pods glowing brightly. "But
you can only run so far, before you find yourself out of space to run
to."
"Chronomon, when you awaken, will it be as a savior or a destroyer? What kind of purification will you bring, removal of darkness, or simply the complete removal of everything"
TBC:
AN: Extra long chapter everyone, as a sorry for being so late, but real life issues kept me from writing as much as I wanted or even spell chapter nine for so long, but still, I managed to write chapter 10, but seeing as it was rather short and ending one such a good cliffhanger, I decided to merge chapter 9 and 10 together and release this mega chapter.
Next issue will feature the beginning of the end of the deva arc, and move the story into the true main arc of the story, featuring the return of Hikaru and the arrival of new far more powerful evil.
