Review Responses
The Keeper of Worlds) With or without the mandatory mindfuck from witnessing an Eldritch Abomination? And no, you're not a worse one.
AspiringWriterGirl) Thank you for the kind word. As Kurata, he was killed off by Omnimon X. As for Kari, they'll see her again. Our heroes have lost great comrades, but they gained new ones.
(spoiler: no, they didn't) (wait, actually they did... huh...)
...
Yes, I changed the chapter titles radically. Hopefully no-one will object.
Digital World 02, Timeline 03, Year 2881, Month 06, Day 10, Western Quadrant, Spiral Mountain, Northern side, Floor 131
The large group, humans, Digimon, angels and arch-angel emerged onto a grassy meadow, far up the ancient mountain.
BanchoLeomon scanned the environment carefully, not letting his unfamiliarity with the area show, though this place was further up the mountain than the hundred-something 'floors' he'd personally made into a training ground.
Then, unnoticed to everyone present, the movement of time paused. Around them, any physical movements that they were performing halted completely, while the wind ceased as well.
Around the mountain, a passing Hououmon hung, suspended in the air of frozen time, as gravity had been stopped along with everything else.
Then, in the stillness of time and in defiance of all logic, Kristy's own DNA-Charge flared up without any conscious effort, forming a bright-orange aura around her and Gumdramon.
On their eyes, which were now pools of blood-curdling red, formed deep-black markings, in the shape of five-pronged stars, while their complexions paled.
Above them, a nightmarish mirage formed, in the shape of a draconic creature or a physical space-time event, depending on one's view, that should be long dead regardless of what one believed it to be.
The incorporeal manifestation searched the area for prospective threats to his vessel. It wouldn't do to have her die before her purpose was fulfilled, Millenniummon thought, finding no-one in the vicinity of the assembly. Deeming the situation safe for his impromptu vessel, he faded back into them, their physical changes disappearing.
Without Millenniummon to halt the passage of time, time continued. Kristy took note of her surroundings briefly, wondering where in the Digital World she was, before noticing the sleek gleam of the familiar jet-black mountain-side.
"Spiral Mountain?" Spencer wondered aloud, wondering why they had been brought here. "We're going to live inside a mountain?"
"I realize that it may be not ideal, but it is the best I am able to do," Ophanimon responded apologetically, ignoring the undertone of anger in his voice, before walking over to the nearby mountainside. Placing a armor-plated finger on it caused the entire mountainside to become pure Fractal Code.
The group looked on in shock, all save Suzie and Lopmon wondering what Ophanimon had just done. Then, the mountainside became indestructible Huanglong-Ore once more, though now there was an entrance, large enough to fit them all.
Ophanimon went into the opening, a short tunnel leading further into the near-inconceivably convoluted network of tunnels, caverns and passages that made up the insides of Spiral Mountain, pausing to concentrate on the task at hand.
Before the angel, the rocky walls, floors and ceilings dissolved into shimmering trails of Fractal Code, leaving nothing but a vast cavern, over several hundred kilometers wide, in her wake, a large orb of Fractal Code floating in the palm of her hand, and several now-irate packs of Garurumon, Stingmon and Kyubimon, who had been sparring together before their training ground was demolished.
In hindsight, Ophanimon reflected that it had not been the most well-thought-out idea.
On the inside of her helmet, the display activated by a mental command, allowing her to comprehend in absolute, perfect detail every single yoctometre of the three-hundred-twenty-eight kilometre cavern; such was a necessity, in order to completely alter the data of the world.
Without such awareness, she would have had to infuse the desired area, as well as the immediate surroundings, with the prerequisite Fractal Code to implement the desired changes, which was a more crude and inaccurate way to go around it.
Were Ophanimon to have been human, she would almost certainly have suffered severe sensory overload from processing so much every single attosecond.
From the orb of Fractal Code disappeared now twelve gigabytes, two-hundred megabytes, sixty kilobytes and eighty-eight bytes of data, while fifty-three point four meters above the floor where the canine, vulpine and insectoid Digimon-packs had been training formed now a floor of solid Huanglong Ore, growing from the walls and inwardly, sealing most of them beneath.
The humans and Digimon watched all this from behind the arch-angel, all equally astounded by the sight, though only some cared enough to ask.
"What're you doing?" Kristy exclaimed, startled to see the rock-formation... grow from nothingness. Though, given everything else she'd seen since she'd met Gumdramon and Suzie, she honestly wouldn't be surprised to learn that this entire mountain was a Digimon.
None of the Garurumon, Stingmon or Kyubimon much minded being trapped at this part of Spiral Mountain; they knew that Ophanimon did not possess the resolute will to kill recklessly.
"Placing the foundation of your new home," Ophanimon answered, without turning to look at her. "One cannot build, without something to build on..."
"You've gotta be joking!" Kristy snorted. "I don't care what you do with this place, I'm not gonna go live in a cave!"
"Kristy Damon, I can assure that you will not be able to distinguish between your old home and your new one," Ophanimon spoke, her voice something in-between dismissive and attentive.
Neither Kristy, Sarah or Spencer were much placated by her response. Ophanimon could make this mountain a free-of-charge seven-star hotel for all they cared; it still wouldn't feel like home.
Ophanimon deemed the vast cavern too vast to work on, and refilled the entire empty space once more. By this point, the Damon family, the only one left in the cavern, weren't surprised to see that.
"What's the hold-up?" A female voice asked from behind the humans and angel, testy and impatient. The Damons spun, seeing a unfamiliar teenage girl, carrying what Spencer recognized as a Chibomon in her arms.
Kristy stared in shock at the oddly-garbed stranger, turning beet-red almost instantly.
A nearly-unzipped deep-black hoodie-jacket with trails of flames on the sleeves, a black-white bikini-top, thigh-boots that matched the colors, a pair of... goggles, oddly enough, hanging around her neck...
Sarah suspected that they had been selected specifically to put her tall, slender figure and modestly-developed chest on display; she couldn't imagine it being her casual clothes.
Spencer was more surprised by the fact that the teen, whoever she was, had green hair and red eyes. The hair, he surmised to be the result of hair-dye, while he was less certain about the eyes, though he decided contact lenses to be the most likely explanation.
"Patience, Miss Shinomiya," Ophanimon chided softly, turning to face the green-haired teen. "I am about to construct your sleeping quarters."
"I've got an idea for the interior design, actually," She grinned. "If we're gonna be doing a lotta fighting around here, we'll need every advantage we can get."
Ophanimon eyed her curiously. "What do you have in mind?"
"Simple," Rina answered swiftly, and turned around, seeing the four her plan required. "Ken, Davis, could you get in here for a sec?" She asked the two, noticing their changed attires, though not finding them noteworthy enough to comment on.
Kristy was befuddled; she was positive that neither the maroon-haired teen or the violet-haired teen had been wearing that a few minutes ago. Briefly, she wondered why people (or humans, she corrected herself) from other dimensions tended to have odd hair-colors.
"Come to think of it, I know a lotta people with weird hair-colors," Kristy mused. Off the top of her head (she giggled briefly at her mental pun) she remembered Commander Sampson, who had dark-blue hair, that girl from the school attack, who had pinkish hair, even Suzie, who had hair a different, darker shade of pink.
Dagomon, however, wondered if Kristy Damon providing metafictional commentary was going to be a recurring event; if it was, he'll have to break her brother's brain, after he'd served his purpose.
"What?" Davis and Ken responded in unison; the maroon-haired teen sounded strangely irritated, while the navy-haired teen's tone was more level. Then, the movement of time ceased once more, though this time, Ophanimon remained conscious.
She recognized immediately what had just occurred; Millenniummon's ghostly presence, emanating from the ten-year old and the dragon outside, left no doubt about that fact.
Ophanimon's expression became an unreadable frown at the sight at the phantasm. She'd hoped that re-creating Suzie Wong's entire universe to expunge Ryo Akiyama and Millenniummon would prove sufficient to end his existence, but now, it seemed that they, the eight-hundred billion inhabitants of that universe, had been erased and recreated for nothing.
"Look at you," The apparition sneered at her, a sharp, accusatory-yet-amused hiss of two distinct voices that blended together. "Ophanimon, the great destroyer. How many lives have you sent to the slaughter? Against I? Against the Demon Lords? Against those who dared to defy you, or disagree with you?"
"Do not dare to pretend that you care for those slain!" Ophanimon snapped at the spectral figure, outraged. "You would have killed them yourself, had Monodramon not sealed you!"
Millenniummon simply smirked. Ophanimon realized too late the verbal trap she'd stumbled into. "So you admit it?" Millenniummon queried. "That we are not truly so different?"
Ophanimon ignored him. "How can you possibly exist still? Ryo Akiyama is gone, expunged!"
Millenniummon ignored her in turn, surveying the state of the various worlds, and how they had changed since Monodramon had sealed him away. What he saw surprised him greatly, even unnerving him somewhat.
Entire universes were gone, hundreds of them; billions upon billions slain. In their place, an endless war was raging across the dimensions, millions, human and Digimon dying in battle every instant, only to be replaced by millions more to fall, all in the futile hope of victory.
Another universe had been converted into a warzone, the central timeline locked to prevent it from diverging, while the alternate timelines had filled that dimension to the brim; without any way of expanding further outwards, that dimension's timelines continually folded back on itself, history continually rewriting itself whenever either side sent forces there.
Amidst the heat of battle, things were created, strange and powerful things that could devour space and time, among countless beings that were much more powerful than Super Ultimates; all of them were slain as quickly as they were reborn, and slain once more.
For the first time, Millenniummon felt fear. More than that, the mere thought of a being that could possibly be sufficiently powerful and malevolent to destroy entire universes... It was maddening, nothing but.
Such mindless slaughter was anathema to everything he believed. Certainly, he had no objection to ending lives either, but on such a scale... It was madness, not conquest. Sheer, unforgivable madness.
"How can you exist, Millenniummon?" Ophanimon pressed, not bothering to defend herself; nothing she could do would keep her soul, body or existence safe from the evil god-spirit.
"If you must know, my latest rebirth was much less difficult than you imagine," Millenniummon answered, distantly, suddenly noticing the presences of Digimon that now reigned the worlds of time at the edge of his consciousness.
He distinctly remembered nothing of the sort being when he fought his boy for the fourth time, so he surmised that they were Ophanimon's 'counter-move' against him, an entire trans-dimensional empire, thousands of Digimon, raised from virtually nothing, simply to stand against
A blinding rage filled him at the realization that she, a mere Celestial, had dared to involve herself, make herself more than a mere pawn, in the game that he played with his other half.
Elsewhere, he saw the side-effects of this war in this particular universe. A human, Thomas H. Norstein, had been partnered with a Digimon, as had Marcus Damon, Yoshi Fujieda, Miki Kurosaki, Megumi Shirakawa, Richard Sampson, Homer Yushima, Kristy Damon, Spencer Damon, Keenan Krier, and Relena Norstein.
He surmised that DATS was a stratagem perpetrated by ENIAC and his followers, to defend it; the Demon Lords would simply have invaded this world, converting all life and all matter into data to fuel the expansion of the Dark Area, or perhaps a few million new soldiers, then have the timeline severed.
At least, that was what he would've done; mining alternate timelines hardly harmed anyone but a few insects. "I am not with foresight," Millenniummon finally answered her, after a brief pause. "Suffice to say, I have sown the seeds of my return across the worlds of time."
"How?" Ophanimon demanded sharply. To her irritation, rather than answer, Millenniummon's spirit faded, restarting the flow of time.
"Just get in here," Rina shot back at Davis and Ken, unconsciously balling her fast. Davis groaned mentally, rolling his eyes, before following Veemon, Ken and Wormmon into the cave.
Rina turned to Ophanimon, trying and failing not to glare angrily at Davis, which did not escape anyone else, though only Ophanimon understood the exact reason why.
Kristy wondered briefly why she ran into people who argued like old married couples so often; Marcus and Yoshi had done that a while back, and now it seemed like these two were about to as well. However, a more important question was present in her mind.
"Why did your clothes change?" The young brunette quizzically asked, while Spencer was more curious about the seeming presence of Crest-like markings on their attires; Miracles and Kindness, if he remembered correctly.
"They always do," The maroon-haired teen explained, which really didn't explain anything to the Damon trio. "Whenever we went to the Digital World back home, I mean. These clothes are new, though." He clarified, gazing admiringly at his new gloves, considering the Miracle-insignia a nice touch.
Sarah mused that it was at least somewhat of an explanation, but she still had a few questions; why had her clothes, Spencer's and Kristy's stayed the same while others got a change of wardrobe? More importantly, why had their clothes even changed in the first place?
"Ophanimon," Rina spoke suddenly. "How big can you make this room? Veemon, Wormmon, how long can you hold Imperialdramon?"
The archangel smiled knowingly, sensing the plan the green-head had formulated. The two Digidestined and their partners, however, were less understanding.
Rina did a quick mental estimate of what she had to work with.
Imperialdramon was likely their best ranged fighter, regardless of the Mode they were in, though beyond that, there was the Cherubimon Bio-Merge, Willis' Rapidmon, and Cody's Shakkoumon. Two Mega-levels, two Ultimates; hardly enough to fend off the hordes that would no doubt come for Kristy
Their close-combat fighters, however, proved of scarcely more help; Willis' Antylamon and the BanchoLeomon. Another Mega and Ultimate to add to the count.
She had no what that 'Millenniumon' was, and whether it was a close-or-long range fighter; whichever it was, she simply hoped that it could help. With only seven against so many, they needed every advantage they could get.
"Wide enough to accomodate Imperialdramon," Ophanimon answered, proceeding to do so. With barely a gesture from the divine incarnation of love, a vast cavern opened up.
"Next question," A smirk formed on Rina's face. "What's this mountain made of?"
"Pure, solid Huanglong Ore," Ophanimon was quick to answer. "The ore is completely impervious to nearly all forms of assault."
"Good," She grinned. "Next up, seeing how Imperialdramon fits in here."
The four nodded, and after a bright flash of light, Imperialdramon stood in the cave, though there was scarcely enough space for him. Spencer and BanchoLeomon marveled at the sight of the ancient dragon, as both had believed it to be long since extinct.
"Incredible..." Spencer murmured. Everything about it matched what he'd heard in the legends; the jet-black and golden armor, the blood-crimson wings, the deep-blue skin...
There was no question about it in his mind. This was most certainly a real, true Imperialdramon. "Who are you people?" He asked, astonished, of Davis and Ken.
Davis ignored the man, turning to face Rina, frowning. "Now could you please tell me what the point of that was?" He demanded sharply of her.
Rina simply rolled her eyes, annoying Davis. Kristy sighed mentally at the 'old-married-couple' act, wondering why it seemed to be common.
"Simple," Rina snorted at him. "We all know that we're gonna get in a lotta fights up here, so we need every advantage we can get. Nothing bigger than BanchoLeomon can get in here now, and Imperialdramon can handle anything small enough to get in."
"Quite the clever little plan you concocted," An unfamiliar, guttural voice called out to them, malice and disgust dripping from every word.
The entire group spun to see a large humanoid creature in red robes, standing in the cave-opening. Outside on the meadow, behind the newly arrived entity, a vast numbers of Digieggs were scattered around.
Ophanimon, Suzie and the Digidestined recognized the demon all-too-well. In the moment that they did, dread, sheer overpowering dread, appeared on the faces of Davis, Veemon, Ken, Wormmon, Cody and Armadillomon, remembering their previous battle with him.
"Whatta you want!?" Davis hollered at the Demon Lord, while everyone prepared to fight him.
"Foolish child," Daemon chuckled. "I'm here for the godling children, and for Ken. So hand them over, and I might allow you to live."
While he had spoken, the various Digimon present had assumed the most powerful forms they respectively had available; Rapidmon and Antylamon for Willis' partners, Shakkoumon for Cody's partner, Cherubimon's Vice Mode as Suzie and Lopmon's Bio-Merge, while Gumdramon assumed his Ultimate form of Cyberdramon.
"Not a chance!" Imperialdramon growled, unleashing the power of his Positron Laser on the Demon Lord, who simply returned the gesture, unleashing a jet of crimson-golden flames from his left hand, the mere force of the colliding blasts sufficient to push everyone back.
Kristy winced, trying to remain standing, wondering where this guy had come from. His motives were easy enough to determine for her; power, predictably, she mused, chuckling mentally.
Ophanimon fired a blast of rainbow-colored light from her lance, while the demonic Cherubimon unleashed bolts of deep-crimson thunder. Shakkoumon and Rapidmon completed the five-point assault with their Justice Beam and Tri Beam.
The power that the two angels, divine and demonic, could unleash each rivaled that of Daemon's, though the victory would still be hard-fought.
The power of Imperialdramon, Rapidmon and Shakkoumon, while great both individually and pooled, was far from sufficient to overpower Daemon, regardless of which form he was in. They could cause him injury, but they could not hope to overpower him if he did not allow them to.
The power of the dragon, beast and three angels, however, joined together, was great enough to subdue Daemon in an instant; the disparity was so great that the outcome was never in question.
In an instant, Daemon's flames were snuffed out by the counter-force, as were his life. He barely had time to scream, though he died content, knowing that his secondary objective was fulfilled.
"We beat him!" Davis and Veemon cheered loudly, as did the other four Digidestined, much to the confusion of the others. "Daemon's finally gone!" Davis exclaimed jubilantly.
"Now that this is over, let's get on with it," Rina commented, seemingly unfazed, disinterested, by the inexplicably-sudden appearance of Daemon.
Ophanimon looked briefly at the scattered eggs outside, resolving to mourn them later. In the far left side of the cavern, another tunnel opened up, a staircase carved into it.
The group followed Ophanimon up the staircase, leaving Imperialdramon to guard over the entrance. The group noted that it wasn't a conventional staircase; the tiles were wide rectangular slabs, seven short steps leading into a dead end, a part of the mountain that had yet to be reshaped into something habitable by Ophanimon's merest touch.
She reached out, placing an armored hand on the wall before it dissipated into trails of whitish-blue Fractal Code that formed a small ball in the palm of her glove.
Before the assembly was now a vast corridor, composed entirely of a wooden material, a rich brown shade, with no sort of decorations present anywhere on the walls.
Sarah and Spencer walked to beside the angel. To Sarah's bewilderment, the hallway was well-lit, despite there being no source of light, which was utterly impossible.
Ophanimon turned to regard the group, quickly counting them to ascertain the number of sleeping quarters needed. "Will eleven bedchambers suffice?"
The group hesitated before they could answer, as at the far end of the hallway had now appeared a dark-haired teenage-girl in black-and-purple garments, carrying the unconscious forms of Marcus and Agumon with her left hand, seemingly not-the-least-strained by it.
Suzie became slightly confused when her D-Arc identified the newcomer as Lilithmon Teen Mode, as to her knowledge, that particular Demon Lord had no alternate Modes to change to, like Belphemon, Lucemon and Beelzemon.
Seeing the device in Suzie's hand reminded Kristy and Gumdramon that they had forgotten her own at home.
"Well met, humans," The teen-demoness greeted amiably. "I have come to return Marcus and Agumon to you."
With that, the teenage Lust-embodiment simply dropped the human and Digimon onto the wooden floor. To the shock of Suzie, BanchoLeomon and everyone else, the teen and Ophanimon smiled at each-other, both regarding the other as one would an old and dear friend.
They seemed to communicate in a way that didn't involve words before Lilithmon vanished into thin air.
Where she had been was now a large circle, containing both DigiCode lettering and arcane sigils. The circle shone a jade-green light, vibrant and vivid and giving off a sensation of almost being alive, even sentient.
In the brief moments before it faded in the absence of Lilithmon, they collectively felt as though the unholy rune-like marking had looked at them, gazing into their souls. More than that, they felt uneasy, unclean, by that self-same sensation.
After a moment, Sarah finally spoke, washing away the uncomfortable atmosphere. Briefly, she mused that it was rather worrying how... unfazed she was, now, by such impossible things; in for a penny, in for a pound, she supposed.
"Yes, yes, Ophanimon, eleven's..." She paused, noticing that the arch-angel had miscounted; her and Spencer would occupy one, Kristy, Marcus and BanchoLeomon would occupy another three, and those people from that other (or 'third', technically, she thought to herself) universe would occupy six more, when their lost friend came back.
"Don't you mean ten?" She corrected the arch-angel.
"No," Suzie answered, her voice tinged with sadness and something else that Sarah couldn't identify. "I won't be going home for a while, so I'm staying here."
Kristy's eyes became wide with shock, once the brunette realized what the amaranthette was hinting at; her universe was gone as well, despite what she, Gumdramon and Norn had done to keep the other universes alive.
"Well, can me and V.V get our bedroom done first?" Rina inquired to Ophanimon, audibly unconcerned with universes other than her own. "We've got some serious training to do if we're gonna get him back to Mega."
"Training?" BanchoLeomon interjected sharply, eyeing Rina with severe scrutiny. "If it's training you desire, you've certainly come to the right place. Here on Spiral Mountain, all manners of training grounds are available."
The jacketed lion scanned briefly the Chibomon that the green-haired teen carried, deeming the Ocean Field best for the Fresh-Level.
Ophanimon traced a plated finger across a small section of the wooden wall, conjuring up a simple wooden door, a darker shade of brown than the remaining hallway. Affixed to it was a plain metallic doorhandle. Engraved on the door itself were two lines of text, 'Room 01' and 'Rina', in bright gold font.
Several further doors formed in the corridor, twenty-thirty meters apart, with identical markings adorning them. "Will these suffice?" Ophanimon inquired.
Rina opened the door to her bedroom, inspecting the interior. Its walls were the same wooden material as the outside corridor, with a pre-made big bed, which she guessed to be king-sized, sitting by the wall.
"A bit sparse," She spoke, after a pause. "But I guess we'll make do..."
Closing time!