Chapter 11: Rain of Ruin
"DigiCores?" Jen asked hesitantly, fiddling with the orb behind her back. "I-I have no idea what you mean…"
Wizardmon slowly walked into the room. He held his staff in front of him as to intimidate Jen, Veemon and Akira. "Give me the DigiCores." They each noticed Wizardmon's blood red glow in his eyes greaten with every passing moment. Jen obviously wasn't thinking clearly when she threw the sphere behind her. She heard the sound of glass breaking as Wizardmon became frantic, running to the shattered window near the beds.
"Oops."
"You FOOLS!" Wizardmon exclaimed in anguish. He fixed himself near the window, looking down three stories and locking his eyes on the DigiCore. It was amongst a gaggle of bushes and shrubs that hadn't been tended to in some time. Wizardmon turned himself around and stared menacingly at the trio. Jen and Akira exchanged glances before taking off out the door, Veemon joining from behind and Wizardmon chasing after.
Veemon stopped and turned around in the middle of the hallway. He stood defiantly and held his hand out in front of him, signaling for the wizard monster to stop. "Look, dude, I don't want to fight you, but I don't want you hurting my friends. So it looks like I'm gonna have to do something I might regret!"
"Regretful feelings are for insects," Wizardmon murmured. "Allow me to add you to the collection of those who have 'disappeared.'" He held his staff to Veemon's face and called out indistinguishable words as he sent a yellow lightning blast from the sun on the end, forcing Veemon backwards. Veemon's response was a forward thrust of his own body to return to his feet, and on the way up he held his fist out and punched Wizardmon right in the face before turning around and speeding to catch up with the others.
The three scampered down the stairs and burst out the wooden door. Jen bent down, panting in exhaustion, and Akira and Veemon plopped themselves down on the door steps. Moments passed and Wizardmon didn't come out behind them.
Akira got to his feet and loomed over to the DigiCore that rested between a couple of dead bushes by the inn. He picked it up and examined it prior to making his way back over to the other two. "How many others do you have?" he asked, handing the marble back to Jen.
Confused, Jen replied, "Others of what? Those Core things?"
"Yes! We need to get rid of them."
"Well, let me see…" Jen began counting on her hand, "I have Ogremon's, I gave Monochromon's to Max, Veemon absorbed Deltamon… we should only have two in all."
"So your friends have one too?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I told you! These things are to Kimeramon as fish food is to a malnourished salmon! He'll be after us AND your friends any second now."
Jen had a few questions in mind about varying things, but there was obviously little time. "Okay, fine. What do you propose we do?"
Akira's eyes were fixated on a shadow that was enveloping the whole city. "I think it's too late." A dark feeling dawned upon the entire area as they, as well as the Digimon around the town, ceased to budge. Wizardmon was heard slamming the inn's door open, and Jen turned to look at him. His eyes were no longer crimson and he seemed very weak.
"Kids, are you okay?" Wizardmon inquired. "I apologize for my actions, Kimeramon got the best of me..."
"It's fine, but what is that shadow?" Jen asked.
"It's Kimeramon," Akira confirmed. "He knows you're here. You need to hide."
"You might wanna listen to the boy," Starmon's voice crossed their ears. He came up behind the group and spoke, "That guy likes to gather up his used corrupted DigiCores."
"We noticed," Jen and Veemon said in unison.
A rain of red liquid shot at a high speed from an unknown spot in the air, presumably Kimeramon. The monster was exactly as his name implied: chimeric, composed of several different Digimon that even Akira had trouble processing through his head. The shot of scarlet acid busted through the roof of another building nearby, causing an eruption of molten steel and an uprising packet of data.
"Never mind you guys hiding," Starmon said, taking a few steps back, "we all need to get the hell outta here!"
Jen, Veemon, Akira, Starmon, and Wizardmon all took off down the road. Kimeramon spewed a few more shots of the lava in several directions, calling out "HEAT VIPER!" with each one. One of the buildings in his way was Wizardmon's Inn.
Crowds of Digimon screamed and stupidly proceeded into nearby structures, only to have those annihilated by the tyrannical monster. His four arms detrimentally smashed anything that got in his way, almost as if they had minds of their own. "WHERE ARE THE CORES?" his booming voice bellowed.
"JEN, GET RID OF IT!" Akira shouted in between his huffing and puffing. "Just throw it down!"
"These things empower him!" Jen replied back forcibly. "I'm not surrendering!"
"I'll protect us!" Veemon said and he began to radiate. "You guys keep going!"
"Veemon, no!" Jen's voice called out, but it was too late. Her Digivice glowed as well.
"Initiate Digivolution Matrix."
"Veemon digivolve to… Veedramon"
"VEEMON!" Jen screamed, "you're crazy! Don't fight him!"
Starmon heaved a moan and turned to look at Wizardmon. They nodded their heads at each other before each joined up on the opposite side of Veedramon.
"You guys too?!" Akira gasped.
"Someone's got to stop this guy," Wizardmon preached, "it may as well be us."
"This is crazy! Eight Megas could never destroy him, what makes you think you can?"
Eight Megas? Jen's thoughts raced. Where would you find eight of them?
"I'm just not letting Veedramon here take all the hurt for it," Starmon spoke. "You can stay back, Akira."
Jen's mind got the best of her again. How does he know Akira's name?
"METEOR SHOWER!"
"V-NOVA BLAST!"
"THUNDER BALL!"
All three Champions fired an assault at Kimeramon. Starmon summoned meteors from the sky to fall, and Wizardmon pointed his staff and fired a roaring blast of thunder. Veedramon did his usual thing, which included shooting a blue flame at the enemy. All three attacks hit Kimeramon, but he remained unharmed. He continued to fly over the city in a destructive rage. The trio of Digimon turned around and ran to catch up with the kids; Veedramon, who towered over the other two Champions, caused the most ruckus.
"HEAT VIPER!" Kimeramon shouted once again. A stream of acid shot down and trailed behind the crowds, destroying dozens of Digimon in its path. The murky shadow cast by the monster didn't help at all; it made things much darker feeling than they were. And the situation was already grim enough.
The crowd ran around like army ants. The majority of them stayed in file, not leaving the pack as many other straying to the side joined in when they saw Kimeramon looming above. They passed by the building - now in ruin, of course - where they'd met Jijimon, but refused to stop for him. He could take care of himself, and the feat was too risky.
The entire group was now southbound, heading into the entrance of an area marked "Steamy Jungle" - also lathered with several "Warning!" signs. The transition from city to nature was almost seamless; concrete ground transferred right into muddy grassland and marshes.
Jen stayed behind, directing the remaining residents - which were no more than one hundred in number - into the damp wetlands. Everything that they had left behind might as well have become nothing but data or charred rubble.
One Core won't make a difference in his power, will it? Jen hastily tossed the red DigiCore behind her. Kimeramon finally came to a stop as he reached down with one arm and gripped the orb between two fingers. He absorbed it whole into his body within an instant, groaning in sadistic pleasure. Regardless of the fact that he'd gotten what he came for, he continued on in the same direction, above the tree stalks of the Steamy Jungle.
Veedramon was running out of breath by the time he degenerated back to his Rookie form. Jen peered over at the departing monster and asked Akira, "Where ya think he's going?"
"Your friends have a corrupt DigiCore," Akira recalled, "right? I think we both know where he's going." A small batch of younger Digimon still remained at the entrance. Akira explained, "You guys stay in the city and await instruction. Wizardmon, please stay with them and ensure their safety. Jen, Starmon, Veemon and myself will bring everybody in the jungle back to this spot. It's too dangerous to be in there now."
Jen chuckled amidst the chaos, "You're a natural born leader, eh?"
"I've dealt with these kinds of situations before here. Trust me, this isn't the first time the city has been reduced to rubble." Jen had a distressed expression when she, Veemon, Akira, and Starmon started into the jungle, preparing to direct everybody back to the ruined city.
- - -
Alexis' minor glance behind herself turned out to be a bigger deal than she'd imagined. "Hey, guys… there's smoke over there."
"What do you mean?" Jared wondered. He and the others turned around and looked, and took notice of waves of flame and smoke above the trees.
"The city's on fire?!" Max exclaimed. "We should go check it out-"
"NO NEED TO, MY FRIENDS," a sinister voice called. It seemed that night had fallen when a shadow cast overhead so dark it was hard to see your own hand in front of your face.
"Who are you?" KoKabuterimon asked anonymously.
"NO BUSINESS OF YOURS. GIVE ME THE DIGICORE," Kimeramon's voice growled.
DigiCore? Does he mean that red thing? Max pulled a red sphere out of his pocket and taunted Kimeramon like a dog, "Do you want this, boy?" The only sound out of the monster's mouth was a grunt. "Fetch!" Max threw the DigiCore north toward the city, and Kimeramon groaned prior to turning around and chasing after it. Within a moment, he was gone, and the kids knew he'd taken the DigiCore with him.
"He's heading back towards the city," Candlemon noted, "I sure hope he doesn't hurt anyone else." The gang was about to head south some more until they heard a cry.
"MAX!"
Max's ears must have been fooling him. Was that Jen? He, Jared, Alexis, Candlemon, KoKabuterimon, and Penguinmon stopped and gazed at Jen and Veemon, as well as the new boy and another Digimon.
"Howdy there, partners!" Jen said, excited, albeit emitting a strange, calm feeling.
"Weren't you back in the Digital World?" Jared wondered, scratching his head.
"Yup. Turns out the guy's wacko and he flipped out on us, so we came here."
"Who're the newbies?" Candlemon asked.
KoKabuterimon's eyes widened, slowly hovering over to the young lad and the star creature, who stood side by side. "Is that… the famous Akira and his partner, Starmon?!"
"Famous?" Starmon exhaled.
"Partner?" Akira gasped.
Starmon smiled, "Didn't ya wonder why I followed you guys here? I'm your partner from long ago, Akira!"
Akira froze for a moment in utter shock, but he shook himself off. "Where've you been all this time, then? After I wandered around File Island for nearly ten years and stayed in that rusty old inn, being blamed left and right for the disappearance of Digimon?!"
"I expected a bit warmer of a welcome," Starmon said in disappointed surprise, "maybe even a hug."
"So you decided he was your partner just by looking at him?" Max asked.
"No, there was much more to it than that. A friend is somebody special whom you should never forget."
Akira pulled out the cellular device. "I remember now. You were my partner… why is it that I lost all of my best memories in my rebooting? They're more useful than the trivial things I kept."
The rest of the group, beyond Jen and Veemon, remained confused as to what was going on. There was no blaming them, though.