Chapter 9: The blizzard battle:
"Ugh! This blizzard is terrible. Even with my goggles, I can't see a thing." Groaned Van, for he, Blair, Shun and Agulmon were caught in a snowstorm and had been wandering around the area for ages, unsure of how much time had passed, but knew that they had to get some place warm.
"I know, Van, but we can't stop now. Unless we find shelter, we'll all freeze." Blair replied, trying his hardest to remain calm, but could see Van and the Digimon were struggling to continue.
"Wait." Shun then said, getting the attention of the others. "Listen, I hear something."
Doing as the Digimon had told, Van, Blair and Aglumon all stopped for a moment, listening carefully, which paid off as they could all hear a voice in the distance, just a few feet East of their current location.
"Over here!"
Running to the voice, the boys all saw a female Digimon, which looked like it was in the Gatomon species, only her white fur had black spots on it, her gloves were turquoise, a yellow scarf covered her neck and a section of the fur atop her head was coloured icy blue and made to cover her right eye.
"In here!" The Digimon called. "This cave should keep you guys sheltered until the blizzard stops."
"Thanks. We owe you." Blair said, making his way into the cave, followed by Van, who too thanked the Digimon.
And while Van and Blair had never seen the snow Gatomon before, it seemed Shun and Aglumon knew her.
"Leoparmon, I'm glad to see you're ok. Last I heard, the D-Seven captured you." Aglumon
"I was captured, but I managed to escape. I was just about to leave this place when I saw you wandering through the snow." Leoparmon replied, before saying as she pointed to the cave depths. "One more thing, I think this used to be an old lair of the D-Seven because I saw one of their Dark Generators in the back, as well as some silver haired human girl encased in ice."
"A silver haired girl?" Blair asked, wondering who the girl was or how they got into the Digital World.
However, Blair didn't get a chance to ask, for Van suddenly shot past him, confusing Blair as to Van's actions and causing him to call out. "Whoa! What's the hurry?"
But Van just ignored Blair as he continued to run, too caught up in his worries, fearing the identity of the silver haired girl, which he soon reached, filling Van with shock, his worst fears coming true as he saw who it was, causing him to call out in great concern. "ILLYA!"
Placing his hands on the ice, Van gazed at Illya's form and could see that despite her motionless state, she was alive, but knew if he didn't act fast enough, Illya would freeze.
"Van!" He then heard Agulmon call out, making him turn his head and saw his friends all run over to him and the frozen form of Illya.
"Help me get her out before it's too late." He begged, bangingon the ice, while Agulmon nodded and began to slash at it, not using his fire attacks just in case they burnt through and hit Illya.
And while he was willing to help, curiosity got the better of him, making Agulmon stop for a moment and ask. "How did she get here in the first place?"
"It's simple. I kidnapped her and used her as bait to lure you all here." A dark voice said in reply, causing the Tamers and Digimon to turn, where they saw a Digimon of the D-Seven, Jellamon, approach them.
"And after I'm finished with you brats, you will all wind up just like her, statues of ice, and my trophies." Jellamon then said with a wicked smirk.
Hearing that, Agulmon growled. "Jellamon! How dare you kidnap and use Illya like this!"
"Yeah. You've got us now. Leave her out of this!" Snapped Van.
"Tch. Why should I?" Jellamon asked, before stating. "She is more useful to me than you know."
Confused, Van questioned. "What are you talking about?"
"What you humans call 'love' is just an emotional weakness, one I can use to my advantage. The longer the girl stays trapped in the ice, the higher the chance she will never awaken, then I will watch as you mourn over her loss." Jellamon replied wickedly, disgusting how low the D-Seven would go just to gain the upperhand in a fight.
"As if we'll let you continue with this evil." Blair snapped back, turning to Van and saying. "Van, let's work as one and save Illya."
Van nodded in reply as he and Blair withdrew their D-Power-Xs and Digi-Crystals and called out loudly. "Digi-Crystal Energize! Digivolution power up!"
"Agulmon Digivolve to... Dracomon!"
"IceVeemon Digivolve to... ExIceVeemon!"
With their Digivolution complete, both Digimon braced themselves as they charged at Jellamon.
"Roar of the Fire Dragon!" Dracomon announced, unleashing a tremendous wave of flame at Jellamon.
But to their shock, he deflected it with his tail.
"Is that all you can do?" Jellamon questioned, unimpressed.
"We have plenty more tricks." He heard ExIceVeemon say back, making him look up to see ExIceVeemon charging down at him.
"Chilling Crunch!" ExIceVeemon yelled as he opened his maw, showing his fangs were surrounded by an aura of ice as he snapped down at Jellamon, only for Jellamon to stun ExIceVeemon and the others a second time when he grabbed ExIceVeemon's snout and jaw, holding ExIceVeemon in place and preventing him from biting him.
"Pathetic." Jellamon said, releasing his hold over ExIceVeemon, catching him off guard and kicking him in the chest, causing him to land next to Dracomon.
"ExIceVeemon" Dracomon called out, concerned, making Jellamon smirk.
"You should be more concerned about yourself. Rain of Icicles!" Jellamon announced as he created a sphere of ice above his head, which suddenly burst, causing icicles to shoot around in every direction, striking everything around Jellamon, including Dracomon and ExIceVeemon.
"Dracomon!" Van called in concern, running to his Digimon.
"Don't give up now. We still need to save Illya." He then said.
"Don't worry van. I'm not beat yet." Dracomon replied with a smile as he rose to his feet.
However, his smile vanished when Jellamon's tail plunged into his right arm.
"Stone Petrification Tail!" He called out, pulling his tail out seconds later and shocking Dracomon, Van and the others to see Dracomon's right arm was changing to rock, and it was spreading up his shoulder.
Shocked, Blair said. "He's turning to stone!"
"There's nothing you can do now, human." Jellamon stated, smirking as Van fell to his knees and a look of despair appeared on his face. "Now watch as your friend turns to a statue."
With the effects of Jellamon's Stone Petrification Tail attack spreading, Van got up and looked at his partner.
"Dracomon, forgive me. I got so caught up in saving Illya, I failed..." He began to say, wishing he was stronger and could have saved all those he cared about.
However...
"Curse Breaker!"
Hearing Leoparmon's voice, Dracomon found that the petrification had stopped, just before it could consume his chest and head, making the Digimon Tamers smile, while Jellamon was annoyed.
"Little brat. You should have just run for it when you had the chance." He stated, watching as Leoparmon stood before Dracomon and Van.
"I won't let you harm Dracomon any further, Jellamon. You're just a bully! You treat everyone around you like a slave to help with your Master's plan, but we all have something you don't, honour and pride, which is what we will use to defeat you." She said back in a determined tone.
"How dare you speak to me like that, you stupid slave! Dark Projection!" Jellamon roared as he brought his arm down, creating a dark purple coloured transparent copy of it, which struck Leoparmon, causing her to cry out as she was thrown back and slammed into the icy prison of Illya, causing it to shatter and breaking the girl from her slumbering state.
With her freedom, Illya was quite confused.
"Where am I? What's happening? What happened to this poor cat?" She asked, looking down at Leoparmon, who was struggling to get up and felt empathy toward seeing the feline Digimon in pain.
And while Illya was feeling sorry for the poor Digimon, Van felt a great anger release as he faced Jellamon.
"Jellamon, I've had it with you. First you kidnap Illya, then you try and petrify Dracomon and now you're attacking Digimon weaker than you. You've gone too far and it's time to pay for what you've done!" He stated.
"No arguments here." Blair said in reply, withdrawing his Digimon Cards and tossing one to Van. "Here. This should help Dracomon."
Catching the Digimon Card, Van thanked Blair, before he called out and slashed the Card through his D-Power-X. "Digi Modify. Inflation Space!"
After the Card had been slashed, the effect took upon Dracomon, to which his skin turned black and sparkled with stars on it, before his body began to expand within the stone, causing it to shatter to pieces and freeing him, before Dracomon reverted to his normal appearance.
"Thank you Van." Dracomon said.
"No problem." Van replied with a smile, before he turned to Illya and called out to her. "Illya, get out of here before Jellamon...!"
However, Jellamon suddenly interrupted, questioning the confused girl with a hint of worry in his voice. "Hold it! You didn't have those when I captured you. where did you get them?"
Confused at first, Illya wasn't sure what Jellamon was talking about, until Van asked, placing his hands on hers', which now held two new Digi-Crystals. "Illya, where did you get those Digi-Crystals?"
"I don't know. I think I found them by my feet when I woke up." Illya replied, lessening her grasp over them and allowing Van to take them.
"But Van, what is this place, and what is going on?" She had to ask.
"Illya, I promise I'll explain everything, but for now please take Leoparmon and stand back. I don't want to see you harmed any further by Jellamon." Van told Illya in reply, making her nod.
"I understand." Illya replied, surprising Van when she gave him a hug.
"Be careful van." She then said, picking up Leoparmon and backing away, watching as Van, tossed a Digi-Crystal to Blair, before both withdrew their D-Power-Xs and called out in strong tones. "Digimodify! Crystal level two Digivolution activate!"
"Dracomon Digivolve to..." Dracomon began to say as his body was enveloped in flames, which expanded and took form, bursting to reveal Dracomon had greatly changed.
Not only had he increased in size, but a helmet similar to Greymon's covered the top of his head, while orange scales covered his body and orange spikes trailed down his back, past his new set of wings, right down to his tail, which was now set ablaze, making him roar out proudly. "PyroGreymon!"
"ExIceVeemon Digivolve to..." ExIceVeemon started to say, but stopped when he was consumed in a block of ice, which then shattered and revealed a new Digimon within it, to which he had taken on the appearance of an Imperialdramon, but his colours consisted of light and dark shades of blue.
"IceImperialdramon!" The Digimon announced, ready to put an end to Jellamon and his evil ways.
"Just because you Digivolved again doesn't mean you can defeat me." Jellamon stated, summoning another sphere of ice. "Rain of Icicles!"
Letting the ice sphere explode, icicles headed straight for PyroGreymon and IceImperialdramon.
However, while PyroGreymon increased the heat, creating an aura of flame around him, which melted the icicles aimed at him, IceImperialdramon dodged every icicle aimed at him.
"Nice try, but my speed has increased." IceImperialdramon told Jellamon. "So has my choice of attacks."
"Ice Laser!" IceImperialdramon then announced, unleashing a blast of icy energy from the cannon on his back directly at Jellamon.
"Whatever you are planning, it won't work." Jellamon stated, part of him confused as to why he had suffered no damage, until it him him. "Unless..."
Looking down, he found he was right, for his legs were now encased in ice, shocking him.
"You think that can stop me?" Jellamon questioned, before he roared. "Witness the true power of the D-Severn. Dark Projection!"
Releasing a great surge of darkness, a dark copy of Jellamon appeared before the real Jellamon, only this one was double in size, which began to slash furiously at PyroGreymon and IceImperialdramon.
And though both Digimon were able to avoid the projection and its attacks, after PyroGreymon landed, Jellamon suddenly called out. "I have you now! Stone Petrification Tail!"
Pulling his tail from out of the ice, it shot at PyroGreymon, only this time PyroGreymon was left unharmed, for he managed to grab Jellamon's tail before it could hit him.
"Nice try, but I don't fall for the same trick twice." PyroGreymon told Jellamon, before saying as he used his added strength to turn the tables on Jellamon and pushed his tail back at him. "Now it's time to put an end to your misdeeds so let's see how you handle a taste of your own tail."
"N... no, it cannot be...! My own attack used against me... Gggaaahhhh!" Jellamon cried out, a look of shock and agony appeared on his face, one that would remain forever, as his being turned completely to stone.
"It's over." Van said, letting out a relieved sigh, only to blush deeply as Illya suddenly hugged him again.
"Van you did it. You were so brave." She stated, leaving Van's face beet red and him unable to speak, while Blair looked at IceImperialdramon and asked. "Something wrong?"
"Yes." IceImperialdramon admitted, before he turned around, while his cannon began to charge with energy. "But not for long."
Unleashing the energy, it shot through one of the ice walls, destroying a concealed Dark Generator, causing Blair to say. "So that's what was puzzling you."
IceImperialdramon nodded in reply, before he said. "But now that it's gone, this part of the Digital World is now safe."
Around the sametime IceImperialdramon had cleared the area of the Dark Generator, Illya broke from her hug with Van when she felt something.
"Van, what's this?" She asked, stunning Van to see that a D-Power, which had pink outlines was now attached to Illya's dress and making him say. "It's a D-Power, just like the ones Takato and his friends use."
Combined thoughts and emotions filled Illya, including amazement and confusion, though she was unable to express any, for Leoparmon walked up to her and said. "My Data is responding to the D-Power and to you. Illya, you are my Tamer!"
With Leoparmon's statement, all her feelings but amazement and joy filled Illya as she picked Leoparmon up, holding her close to her as she said. "And I promise to be the best Tamer I can be."
And though he was glad that both girls were alright, Blair, after noticing the snow had lifted, as well as a computer, which was connected to the Real World then said. "Illya, Leoparmon, looks the blizzard has died down and there is a connection back to the Real World."
"Everything's going to be ok, Illya." Van promised as he, Illya and Leoparmon approached the computer.
"We're going to send you back to the Real World, back to some Tamers who can help you guys. But as for us, we have to stay so we can find our friends and save the world." He then told her.
"Thank you. And take care." Illya replied, smiling at Van as she and Leoparmon were absorbed into the computer and sent back to the Real World, causing Van to sigh a little, saddened to see Illya leave, but knew she would be safe with Takato and his friends.
Curious, Van turned and asked. "So Blair, what do we do now?"
"I just got a signal on my D-Power-X. It says Cloud and Steph aren't too far from here. Also Okashi, Kayden, Cody and Criso are on their way to meet them. If we fly there, we too should make it around the sametime." Blair replied from atop IceImperialdramon's back, before asking. Think PyroGreymon can keep us with us?"
"You bet." Van replied, confident in his Digimon, only to then say in a serious tone. "But we better hurry. I fear they might be running into trouble."
With the Tamers in agreement, PyroGreymon and IceImperialdramon flew off, following the signal of the D-Power-X to their friends, while with Cloud, Genamon, Steph and Ravemon, the four had found their way out of the cave thanks to a combination of keeping track of their location, Genamon's heightened sense of smell and the light at the end of the tunnel, but were just to come across a terrible discovery.
