A/N: Well it's been a long time everybody! Things have been predictably busy for me and so I haven't had much time to write. There's really no other excuse, so I guess we'll just get on with it.
Please let me know what you think.
Proving
Joe groaned as he slowly woke up. It was dark and he was lying face-down on a cold, hard floor he immediately identified as solid rock. Ignoring his aches and pains he took a quick look around. A small amount of light was emitting through a window in one of the walls. It illuminated the otherwise featureless cell in depressing shades of darkness. Sitting up, he patted himself down to make sure he had everything. Glasses still on his nose, phone dead in his pocket, crest around his neck and digivice clipped to his belt.
At least the annoying little device had stopped beeping for the moment. He didn't know if he could take that in addition to his headache. No not a headache - a pain in the back of his head. He had been knocked out!
He quickly felt the back of his head. There didn't feel like any lumps and it didn't seem to be bleeding either. Joe also felt perfectly lucid and wasn't feeling dizzy or any nausea, so he could probably rule out a concussion.
Not for the first time, Joe cursed his damn digivice. Damn thing just couldn't leave him alone. Started beeping out of nowhere, making an absolute racket, then he must have gotten too close to a computer or something because next thing he knew he was in the middle of a dark forest. From what Tai had said that beeping seemed to indicate that Gomamon was in deep trouble, so as soon as he figure out how to get out of here he would go find his partner. Joe squinted in the dark and could just about make out the smooth walls of the place he was in.
'I'm in a cell, aren't I?' he thought to himself, not feeling particularly surprised. 'The question is: who captured me?'
At that exact moment one of the walls slid down into the floor, flooding the cell with a bright light. Joe shielded his eyes. Between his fingers, he could see several menacing figures approach him, followed by that of one much smaller one.
"On your knees!" one of the digimon declared, knocking Joe forwards onto his knees. "The Emperor wishes to speak to you."
'Ask a stupid question…' Joe thought, more than a little annoyed as the digimon put an arm on his shoulder, preventing him from rising.
The child-like figure approached him upon seeing he was restrained. As his eyes adapted to the lighting, Joe could finally lay eyes on this so-called Emperor. All he could do was gawk. The kid's costume was so garish, how did anyone take him seriously?
The weight on his shoulder suddenly made itself known, forcing him to bow.
'Oh, that's how,' Joe thought surly, trying to get a better look at the kid from his new angle on the floor. 'He really couldn't look more dramatic if he tried. Maybe if Mimi got a go at him…'
He shivered at the thought.
The Emperor smirked at Joe's reaction.
"I see there are even more of you vermin than I had initially suspected," he spoke, his voice so much higher-pitched than expected Joe had to bite his lip to not snigger. "If you tell me why it is you're here then I might be lenient on you. If not… well, my servant here is pretty proficient with his club."
It seemed almost like a great cosmic joke to Joe. Obviously, something out there was laughing at his misfortune. After having faced down real monsters like Myotismon, Apocalymon and even Armageddemon, a twelve-year old child - even one backed up by a couple of champion digimon – just simply wasn't intimidating.
'Calm down, Joe,' the teen thought to himself. 'Just because he's young doesn't mean he's not dangerous. Better not let him know about Gomamon. He's either been captured as well or is hiding somewhere nearby.'
"I don't know," Joe replied, cautiously sitting up. "One moment I was in my room, the next I was here."
"A likely story," the Emperor sneered, leaning in. "Where there's one of you, there's always more scurrying around nearby like the insects you are. What are you here for? Where are the rest of you and how many did you bring?"
That was a good question, Joe realised. The others would have no idea where he went. He had been on his way to a meeting with Izzy, if they couldn't get in touch with him they might assume he was in the digital world. But they would have no way of finding him! How long had he been unconscious?
Joe was slammed down onto the floor, hard enough for him to cry out.
"Answer me when I speak to you, worm!" the Emperor snarled.
Joe grit his teeth in pain.
"I don't know where the others are," he replied honestly. "Probably back home."
"Nice try," the Emperor declared, signalling the champion to hoist Joe up to a sitting position. "But we already know that some are nearby and I have my greatest servant hunting for them. It seems you can't be trusted to tell the truth, what a surprise. Where's the device you came in from located?"
Some of them were nearby? Had they already come to help him?
"Look I don't know, I told you I was sucked in accidentally- argh!"
The Emperor laughed as Joe was slammed to the ground again. Gasping for breath, Joe spat out some blood and slowly, angrily, pushed himself back up.
"What is the point in all this?! What even is this place? What's with all the fog that was down below? Why are you doing all this?"
"So many questions," the Emperor mused. "However, they're not ones I'm interested in, Fugamon?"
This time Joe braced himself as he was slammed to the floor yet again. Anger rose within the older boy and he couldn't stop himself from speaking up again.
"Tell me kid," Joe said through gritted teeth. "Those glasses you're wearing; do you know what the symbol on them means?"
The Emperor laughed.
"Meaning?" he spoke languidly, his smile widening. "It's just a little something I threw together. Whatever meaning you insects put on it is entirely in your heads."
'Yeah, there's no way it's a coincidence,' Joe realised. 'He must be being manipulated. Although I don't really feel sorry for him at the moment.'
"What is it that you get out of this?" Joe hissed, glaring up at the Emperor as he managed to bring himself up again. "Why do you hurt these digimon?!"
"Because it's fun!" the Emperor answered, leaning down in front of Joe's face with a simple smile. "And hurt them? You idiots truly are pathetic. These creatures don't have feelings. They're just data. They're no more capable of feelings then your computer!"
Joe gaped. What was wrong with this kid? How could he possibly believe that?
"Are you serious?" he asked. "How can you possibly think that?! Haven't you seen them laugh like us? Haven't you seen them cry like us?"
Behind his glasses the Emperor rolled his eyes.
"Oh please, have you never played a computer game before? Of course they can mimic human emotions, they're computer programs! It would be boring if they couldn't. Honestly, even then I was beginning to get bored before you all showed up. Now this game is much more fun!"
"It is real!" Joe argued. "They are real! They have feelings and hopes and dreams just like us! I've been doing this for longer than you and there's no doubt! Don't you have a partner? Are they just a computer program as well?!"
"Yes, you simpleton," the Emperor responded as if talking to a small child. "If you fools can't even grasp that simple concept then I doubt there's anything useful you can tell me."
Joe realised he was breathing hard. It was taking everything he had not to scream himself hoarse. His fists were shaking with rage at the ignorant words of this-this child!
"I see," Joe said, his voice like a thin sheet of ice. "I guess there's no helping you then. Kid, for your sake, I really hope you reconsider. Because when you lose, you'll have to face what you've done."
"As if," the Emperor muttered, having lost interest. "Throw him back in. Let him rot in here."
The Fugamon -the resemblance to Ogremon was making Joe's blood boil- immediately threw Joe back into the jail. He hit the far wall with a cry of pain as the other wall came down, leaving Joe alone in his cell.
"Davis!?" Kari called out into the fog in vain. "Yolei!? Are either of you two out there?! Flamedramon?! FlyBeemon?!"
Her voice echoed amongst the countless Control Spires before being swallowed up and returning only empty silence. Gatomon stood nearby, ears pricked for any unexpected noises, but so far hadn't found anything either.
"I don't think they landed nearby," Tk reasoned, looking around worriedly. "But we are at least closer to the mountain."
Much closer in fact. They were very near the base of the volcano, most likely less than a half hours walk away. After they had woken up on the ground and checked to make sure they weren't injured, they hadn't wasted anytime in trying to find the others.
"What should we do?" Iori asked, looking at Kari. "We don't know where the exit is anymore."
As much as Kari hated to admit it, Iori was right. This impromptu trip had become a complete disaster. Joe had been kidnapped, Davis, Yolei and their partners were missing and they had no idea where the exit was. The Emperor almost certainly knew they were here and who knew what sorts of forces he could have coming their way.
What should they do? What could they do?
…you can't save us-
"Kari," Gatomon put a paw on her partner's knee, bringing her back to reality. "It's ok, calm down."
"I-I'm fine," Kari said quickly, realising she had been hyperventilating. "I'm fine, thank Gatomon."
They'd been here far too long; this place was beginning to get to her again. The others were relying on her to lead them. She couldn't let them down.
"We can't go back," she said carefully, reasoning to the others and to herself. "We'll just waste looking for the others, especially if they're looking for us as well."
They're fine, Davis and Yolei are fine. She had to trust that they were looking after themselves just fine.
"B-but we can't just leave them!" Iori stammered. "What if they're hurt?"
"It's impossible to find them in this fog," Gatomon agreed. "We're just making ourselves a more obvious target for whatever the Emperor sends out next."
Kari nodded, glad for her partner's agreement.
"Then what should we do?" Tk questioned, folding his arms. "If we're not going to search for the others, that is."
"When you can't go backwards, you go forwards," Kari replied confidently, pointing towards the dark mass. "We'll move onwards to the volcano and scout it out."
"That's the Emperor's base, isn't it?" Tk said, eyes wide as he stared at Kari. "That's suicide!"
"It's either that or wait for the Emperor to find us," Kari responded, eyes narrowing. "Plus, Joe's in there somewhere and we need to rescue him."
"Even if we do find him, what can we do?" Tk asked. "With all these Control Spires here we'll just get captured as well! We're defenceless!"
"We're not defenceless, Tk!" Kari argued thoughtlessly. "Gatomon and Armadillomon can both-"
She stopped at the look of fury on his face, afraid to say it.
"Go ahead, Kari," Tk said, eyes narrowed and hands balled into fists. "Just say it, I know you want to. Say how we're of no help at all!"
"I wasn't going to say that!"
"Yeah, sure you weren't," Tk added bitterly. "I understand, Kari. We're absolutely no help and never will be, just say it!"
"Fine, be like that," Kari spat, red in the face and having reached the end of her patience. "I don't know what your problem is, Tk, but if you just want to just sit here then fine, you're welcome to it! I'm going to go rescue Joe! Come on, Iori."
With that, Kari turned around and stomped off towards the volcano. Gatomon gave Tk a disapproving look before silently following her partner. Iori gave Tk an apologetic glance before moving to follow her.
"Tk," Patamon prompted gently. "She didn't mean anything by it. You shouldn't just let them go off like that."
"I-I know," Tk said.
"Just because we can't digivolve now doesn't mean we're useless, Tk," Patamon continued softly.
"I know," Tk repeated, clenching his fists. "I just- I don't know!"
With a groan he ran after the others. It didn't take long for him to catch up. Kari gave no indication that she had noticed, but Iori gave him a small smile.
It was after nearly twenty minutes of walking in awkward silence before they came to the end of the Spire forest and reached the foot of the volcano.
"Get down!" Gatomon hissed, as they all laid low and hid behind one of the towers. "Look!"
What looked like numerous digimon in chains, Kari counted roughly twenty, were being escorted by what looked like four off-colour Ogremon. There was an opening about two stories tall that seemed to lead into the volcano.
"Fugamon," Gatomon identified. "They're champion digimon, though not particularly strong ones."
"The prisoners already have dark rings on them," Tk noted. "We should wait for them to pass."
"Hmm," Kari murmured thoughtfully. "They're mostly rookies though… Gatomon, is anyone else nearby?"
"Not as far as I can tell."
"Kari, we can't fight them!" Tk said alarmed. "There's way too many!"
"I'm not planning on fighting them," Kari answered stiffly, her now-pink digivice in hand. "Oryxmon just happens to have a very useful ability for this sort of situation."
She made eye-contact with Gatomon and the champion's eyes lit up at the very familiar grin on her partner's face. Iori and Tk merely looked confused.
The champion quickly backed away to hide the glow from the digivolution and within a few moments, Oryxmon was standing before them.
"Cover your ears," the armour-level digimon stated, before turning towards the prisoners. "Mystic bell!"
Kari couldn't keep the smile off her face as the sound reverberated across the clearing and swept over the enslaved digimon. Within moments the whole ensemble, guards and all, had fallen to the floor, asleep. Tk and Iori were open-mouthed.
"Now let's shatter those rings before they wake up," Kari whispered, running forwards with Oryxmon. "Start with the champions; those are the greatest threat."
Iori looked relieved that no one would have to get hurt this time and ran forwards with Armadillomon. Tk simply stood there watching silently.
After a few tense minutes every digimon had their rings removed and were quickly shaken awake. Oryxmon kept watch while Kari told the nervous-looking digimon what was happening.
"We're infiltrating the Emperor's base to rescue our friend," she explained. "We should be able to produce enough chaos so he won't be able to chase you."
"After all, he'll be too busy dealing with us!" Armadillomon declared confidently.
"Thank you," one of the Floramon exclaimed. "We won't forget this."
With that, the formerly enslaved digimon began to run away from the volcano, towards the Spire forest. Kari smiled after the group, silently wishing them luck. Then her vision was filled with orange and she started at the four champions looming over her. Oryxmon was beside her in an instant, a protective shadow.
"Madam," the lead Fugamon began, respectfully bowing. "Thank you for freeing us from that monster's control. This volcano was our home once and we can lead you through the caverns. Please allow us to assist you."
"Oh, err-sure," Kari replied lamely. "You can help us. We can use as much help as we can get."
"Do any of you know what the Emperor's doing here?" Iori piped up. "Or what was up with that strange smoke that separated us?"
The Fugamon looked at one another, before the lead one stepped forwards again, addressing Kari.
"The Emperor,"-he spat on the ground- "Is constructing something very large within the volcano and produces that gas as a by-product. That's all we know."
"Hmm," Kari said. "Whatever it is, it can wait until we rescue Joe. Now that we have a bit more muscle and with Oryxmon here, we can get in easy."
Everyone gathered round as she began to explain her battle plan.
Davis groaned as he slowly came to. He was lying on the cold ground in the Spire Forest and his limbs were aching like after he got slide-tackled at his last soccer game. Knowing that these were each Control Spires and not just weird trees made the entire forest seem far more sinister. He sat up slowly and looked around. Flamedramon was nowhere in sight and an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. He wasn't alone though.
"Yolei!" he cried, running over to where the girl was lying along with Hawkmon. "Come on, wake up!"
He shook her as hard as he dared, until she began to move. Yolei blinked sleepily at him, her glasses askew.
"Wh-wha? Davis?" Yolei murmured a note of panic in her voice as she sat up. "What happened? Where are the others?"
"I don't know," he answered. "That smoke must have separated us. Flamedramon isn't nearby either."
"Hawkmon," Yolei began to gently shake her partner. "Hawkmon wake up."
"I apologise, Miss Yolei," Hawkmon said as he woke up, she noticed he looked a bit more bruised than before. "I was not able to protect you."
"Oh shut up," Yolei said kindly, hugging him. "We're all alive thanks to you, you did great."
"Where are the others though?" Davis wondered, feeling strangely vulnerable without Veemon around. "Yo, Flamedramon! You out there?! Hello!"
His voice echoed amongst the Spires. There was no indication of movement and the fog was so thick they couldn't see any further than a few Spires away.
"This is bad," Yolei said. "We should head back to the TV and hope the others are there."
"We can't just leave them!" Davis protested, immediately facing Yolei.
"Davis, we only have Hawkmon to protect us," Yolei argued. "We need to find the others or go and get help!"
"But Flamedramon should be around here somewhere! Flamedramon!"
"Davis, sir," Hawkmon piped up. "Maybe you should monitor your volume carefully. I fear the Emperor may still have servants after us."
"And if he has we'll need Flamedramon to fight them," Davis argued, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Flamedramon!"
No response.
"Er, Davis I really think we should be quiet," Yolei said, looking around nervously as the shadows of the spires around them seemed to grow longer.
"If we're quiet, Flamedramon won't find us!" Davis protested. "Hey, can FlyBeemon fly up high and get a look at the area? Maybe he can see Flamedramon?"
"It's worth a shot," Yolei agreed. "See if you can find any idea of where we are as well!"
Within a moment Hawkmon digivolved once more to form FlyBeemon. The armoured digimon nodded to the two before shooting off upwards into the mist and leaving them alone.
Davis and Yolei stood there awkwardly.
"So um…" Davis began. "What sort of clubs are you in? I'm on the soccer club!"
"I know, you've said," Yolei responded, folding her arms. "But is now really the time?"
"Just trying to chat," Davis muttered, idly kicking the dirt.
What was her problem? Why was she always so hostile towards him? He thought back, but Davis couldn't think of ever saying anything rude.
He looked around nervously. His partner's continued absence was really beginning to worry him. The Control Spire forest was huge, Flamedramon could have been blown anywhere. It was strange, since Davis had met his partner he hadn't been really been separated from Veemon for this long before. Even though he'd only known the digimon for a few days he felt strangely lonely without the little guy around.
"Miss Yolei, Miss Yolei!" FlyBeemon cried flying back down excitedly. "I recognise the positions of some of the fallen towers! We're very close to where we came in!"
Yolei's face lit up.
"Yes!" she smiled. "Take us there!"
"Hang on, what about the others? What about Flamedramon?"
"I couldn't see any sign of them," FlyBeemon admitted. "But there are some more Airdramon flying about. I know which direction to go!"
Yolei turned to him.
"Come on, Davis," she pleaded. "I know you don't want to leave Flamedramon, but the older kids can help! They'll know what to do!"
"I'm not going to abandon him, Yolei!" Davis argued.
"It is possible he is waiting for us there or thereabouts," FlyBeemon interjected, before things could get too heated. "If I recall, he was closest before we were all blown away. I feel there can be no harm in checking to see if he is there."
Davis considered this for a moment.
"Fine," he said reluctantly. "But if he's not there then I'm not leaving."
With a tentative agreement reached, FlyBeemon began to lead them towards the exit. As they continued to walk the ever-present mist around them seemed to shift. The atmosphere was changing. The fog seemed to press down on them with as strange pressure, making it harder to breathe. It was almost as if the air itself was alive and was slowly trying to crush them. Sweat dripped from Yolei's brow and Davis' eyes began to dart around nervously.
FlyBeemon began to breathe heavily as the mist seemed to thicken. Within a few moments they were close to the small clearing of Spires that marked the television they came through. The armoured digimon, motioned for them to stop.
"Something's there," he spoke as quietly as he could.
"I can't see anything," Davis said, peering into the mist. "Was it Flamedramon?"
He could just about make out the shadow of the television where they came in, but the clearing was otherwise obscured by the damn fog.
"I don't know; it moved too quickly for me to get a good look."
"Let's be careful," Yolei decided.
FlyBeemon went first, cautiously walking towards the television with the two children right behind him. Nothing happened.
Step by step they crept closer. Still no movement from any side. The shadows of the spires remain unchanging. Moment after moment went by as they moved closer. Almost there. Nothing continued to happen.
They were within arm's reach.
Yolei crouched down, hand on her digivice and ready to go home.
A low growl reverberated through the clearing. FlyBeemon stood in front of the children, eyes moving wildly. Davis and Yolei shivered at the sound. Animalistic and rough, it made their hair rise and hearts scream.
A dark shape, slightly larger than Flamedramon, was leisurely walking through the fog towards them.
Without warning, FlyBeemon grabbed the two children and began to fly.
"Lightning sting!" he cried out, firing at the shadowed figure below them.
The creature blocked the attack and drew back an arm. The children didn't even have time to scream before the sound of something smashing could be heard behind them.
"T-the TV!" Yolei's face was a mask of horror. "It smashed it!"
"W-we aren't gonna fight?!" Davis screamed as they continued to shoot through the air.
"Not risking it!" FlyBeemon yelled back, as they climbed higher and higher. "That digimon is dangerous!"
"Look out!" Yolei hollered.
Impossibly, the dark shape was in front of them. Crouched on top of one of the spires it leapt towards them.
FlyBeemon cursed and dropped down, barely avoiding its lunge.
"Lightning Sting!" he yelled, firing after its falling form.
The attack struck true, hitting the figure and briefly lighting it up. In the brief flash, Davis saw the Dark Spiral on its forearm and the feral look in its eyes.
The figure somersaulted in the air, unaffected by the attack and jumped off another Spire to come after them.
"It can't fly!" Yolei realised. "It can only move in straight lines as it jumps!"
"Just fly higher then!" Davis yelled.
"Then we'll be attacked by more Airdramon!" Yolei yelled back. "FlyBeemon, stay near the top of the spires, but still in the fog!"
"Right!"
FlyBeemon did his best. Weaving in and out of the spires whilst avoiding the incredibly fast -but predictable- movements of their pursuer was no easy task. The spires shot past them at a dizzying rate. It was worse than being on a rollercoaster.
"LEFT!" Davis screamed.
They shot to the left, barely avoiding the spires and a spirited leap from their pursuer.
"RIGHT!"
Again, a close shave.
"RIGH-NO LEFT!"
Too late.
They clipped the side of a tower and span upside down. They all screamed as the ground approached and FlyBeemon spun to put himself first. The dark shape shot down after them, right in the armoured digimon's sights.
"Lightning Sting!"
With a thunder-like crash, the attack slammed into their plummeting opponent, who guarded with his arms, knocking him backwards into a nearby spire.
FlyBeemon had no further time to celebrate as they slammed into the ground and skipped like a stone on a pond.
Immediately, FlyBeemon got to his feet, cradling the two children worriedly.
"Are you two alright?" he asked, panicked.
"S-somehow," Yolei stammered, the world still spinning.
"Never better," Davis gurgled, trying to stand up but falling over in nausea.
The sound of two feet slamming into the dirt nearby made the three look up. Their opponent, arms still smoking slightly, stood up straight and began to walk slowly towards them.
"You two, run!" FlyBeemon ordered, standing between them and the enemy. "I'll hold him off!"
"FlyBeemon!" Yolei cried out as her partner charged.
"Lightning Sting!" he cried, firing straight at the Dark Spiral.
With a casual flick of his arm, the enemy deflected the blow into the ground. FlyBeemon darted around, circling the digimon and firing again and again. The enemy didn't even retaliate, blocking every strike with the same arm repeatedly.
'Wait,' Davis realised. 'It's blocking with the arm that doesn't have the Dark Spiral attached. Did we damage it earlier?'
Before he could act on that thought, the opponent moved.
With movement that seemed effortless, an outstretched claw slammed into FlyBeemon. The poor digimon was knocked straight through a nearby spire and into the next.
"FlyBeemon!" Yolei yelled as her partner stopped moving.
With a growl, their opponent turned towards the two of them.
"Uh oh," Davis took a wary step back. "Did you have to get its attention?!"
Its patience having waned, the creature began to run towards the two of them. There wasn't time to move, or even to scream as the creature bared down on them. They could see the bloodlust in its blank eyes, in the rabid foam in its mouth. It was the end.
"Fire Rocket!"
Like a meteor in shining armour, Flamedramon slammed into the left of the creature, hurtling it off course. Their enemy slammed into a nearby control spire as Flamedramon stood protectively in front of the two children.
"Flamedramon, you're alright!" Davis resisted the temptation to hug his partner. "Oh buddy, you can eat as much of my food at dinner as you want!"
"Good to see you too, Davis!" Flamedramon greeted with a smirk, eyes on the enemy.
For about a second.
"Wait, as much as I want?!" he turned to Davis incredulously.
"Flamedramon!" Yolei screeched, pointing.
The armour turned back just in time to see the enemy burst out of the wreckage and charge straight at them.
"Hold on!" he grabbed the two and jumped, barely avoiding the charge.
The enemy slammed into the spire behind them hard enough to collapse it.
"Damn, this thing's like that Tankdramon!" Flamedramon declared as he put the two kids down. "Did my charge even hurt him?"
"He has a Dark Spiral on his left arm!" Davis pointed. "Aim for that!"
"I think you've already damaged the spiral," Yolei added. "It's not moving as fast as it was."
"That's not as fast as it was?!" Flamedramon yelled in disbelief as the rubble began to move. "Oh crap, this thing's got to be ultimate, at least."
"I've got an idea," Yolei declared, pointing. "Lure it over that direction."
"What, why?" Flamedramon asked. "What's over there?"
"You'll see, just be ready to aim for its spiral!"
With a roar their opponent burst out of the rubble. Flamedramon darted sideways, shooting balls of fire.
"Over here, ugly!" he yelled.
The ultimate growled and shot after him. Flamedramon sweated as the enemy gained horribly quickly on him.
"Fire Rocket!" he called out, firing numerous balls of fire.
The enemy just ignored them, smashing through the attack without even slowing down. Flamedramon grimaced.
"That's fast, that's fast, that's-really-fast!" he screamed, sprinting past a couple of downed control spires with the enemy right behind him.
"Lightning Sting!"
Lightning shot across the side aiming for the Dark Spiral from FlyBeemon who stood there hiding behind the Spire. The enemy turned to shield his arm, and Flamedramon saw his opportunity.
"Fire Rocket!" a single ball of fire erupted out of his gauntlet and straight into the Dark Spiral on the digimon's arm.
The digimon roared as bits of the Dark Spiral shattered and fell off. The enemy clutched at its head in pain.
"You got it!" Davis cheered.
"No wait, look!" Yolei pointed.
The Dark Spiral was still attached, but a large chunk of it had been blasted off.
"He must have made them tougher since last time," Yolei noted. "You'll have to blast it again!"
"One more hit should do it!" Flamedramon decided, lighting up his gauntlets.
But he didn't get the chance. The ground beneath the enemy exploded as he sprinted away. The spires themselves quaked as he shot past them and into the mist.
Stunned disbelief descended on the four of them.
"H-he ran away?!" Davis yelled. "Hey get back here and fight, coward!"
"Pl-please don't," FlyBeemon moaned, as he fell onto his knees. "I can't take another hit like that."
"Hey, are you alright?" Flamedramon grabbed his downed comrade as Davis and Yolei ran to them.
"Yeah, it barely touched me," FlyBeemon groaned and only now could they see the spider web of cracks in his armour that had spread from the side where the blow had landed. "We were lucky. That thing was monstrously strong."
"Hey, we won, right?" Davis argued, smiling at Flamedramon proudly. "We kicked its butt, no problem!"
"Davis, what if it comes back?" Yolei pointed out. "There's no way we can beat it again."
"Why not? We nearly knocked its spiral off just now. The Emperor may have made them tougher but we can do it again, easy."
As if to prove her right, there was a purple glow and suddenly Flamedramon was holding an exhausted Poromon.
"Sorry, Miss Yolei," the little in-training squeaked.
"It's alright, little guy," she smiled, taking him from Flamedramon. "You did great against, er… what was that digimon anyway?"
"I don't know," Flamedramon said. "I didn't get a good look at it through the fog and it didn't use any attacks."
"Ultimate level," Poromon spoke tiredly. "At least."
"I think I saw blue fur at one point," Yolei said thoughtfully.
"Who cares what it was?" Davis protested, holding his arms behind his head. "We won! Now since we can't go back, we should go find the others!"
"And where would we even start?!" Yolei yelled. "We're tired and injured, what help would we even be?"
"We'd be better than nothing!"
"Not if they had to cover for us!"
"Flamedramon is more than enough…"
"Guys!" Flamedramon protested, holding an arm between the two. "Come on, we're a team, remember? Digidestined 2.0? That ultimate ran towards the volcano, so I think that's where we should start."
"It's not like we can go home right now," Poromon agreed.
The three of them turned towards Yolei.
"I don't like it," she admitted. "But fine. Since we can't go home, it's not like we can do anything else except hide!"
"That's the spirit!" Davis grinned. "Onwards! Don't worry, Kari! We're coming to save you!"
Tai had frozen; his eyes wide and locked onto Neo's face in disbelief. Neither of them spoke after Neo's confident declaration. The wind gently blew in through the open window, disturbing the curtains and bringing with it the surprisingly faint noises of the city. Tai's breath caught inside his throat as he slowly took in the still-static digivice resting on the table.
Not dead?
How was that possible? The digivice was static - not working. No matter what buttons Tai or Sora had pushed the screen wouldn't change. Sora had been convinced that it could only mean one thing; that Biyomon was gone and with no sign of her at Primary Village she wasn't coming back. Tai had been convinced as well. The situation had almost exactly mirrored that of his last time and it had taken a bit more effort than he cared to admit to not bring up bad memories.
But this?
"A-Are you sure?" Tai dared to ask, unable to keep the naked hope out of his voice. He liked to think that he and Neo had built up something of a rapport over the years they knew each other. Neo wouldn't lie or joke with him over something like this. He knew how much something like this would hurt.
"I can't be one-hundred percent certain," Neo admitted casually, turning back to his desk where Sora's digivice was on naked display. "But it doesn't fit the pattern for the deletion of a digimon."
Neo reached out and picked up his 01 digivice. With practiced ease, he removed the outer casing and had it on display next to Sora's. Tai looked at the two devices side-by-side. Even to him it was clear that they were very similar, although the 01-device looked far more complex.
"You and your friends' digivices are without a doubt heavily based off this one," he began, casting his mind back to those times. "The markings and the inner design definitely seem to confirm that, although your newer ones are far more… basic. Huh, elegant though. It is therefore safe to base some assumptions for these new ones on how our previous 01 devices functioned."
He turned in his char to look straight at Tai, who had moved away to sit down on the bed and examine his own digivice thoughtfully.
"Back in our time, when a digimon was deleted its data would split apart and return to the digital ocean. Due to the mixing of data there, there was practically zero chance of the average digimon ever coming back like they were before."
"Yeah, sure," Tai snorted despite the seriousness of the situation. "I swear I've run into more old enemies than new ones."
"I said 'average digimon'," Neo interjected stiffly. "Nothing about anyone who could give you trouble was average."
"But things are different now," Tai said with a small smile, remembering the field of eggs, the bouncy floor and countless baby digimon that inhabited File Island. "Now digimon are reborn at Primary Village as babies. They can start again."
"Which is why it's curious that your friend's partner wasn't there," Neo said impatiently, a slight glare at Tai for interrupting. "The other possible option, of course, is that she was deleted and then had her data absorbed."
"I-I had thought of that," Tai admitted, looking down. "I couldn't bring myself to tell Sora. She'd- she's already not taking it well. I couldn't possibly tell her that Biyomon is now part of some… monster."
"Tai."
He looked back up at Neo's annoyed face.
"Shut up and let me finish," Neo said with a slight glare. "I am confident Biyomon is not dead, otherwise I wouldn't have said anything. Back when I deleted MetalGreymon, my digivice simply logged my partner's deletion and shut off. The same thing happened when you destroyed Deathmon. Both times the digivice turned off until I reconnected it to another digimon."
Here, Neo looked away.
"Most telling though, when Daemon took over Arkadimon my digivice acted as if he had merely died. It shut down and since I never reconnected it, it has stayed like that ever since. As Biyomon cannot be dead without the digivice shutting down, the only reasonable conclusion based off our current knowledge is that she isn't dead."
"So why is it showing static then?"
"Likely because the digivice can't find her. I am unsure of the exact mechanisms behind the link between you, your partners and the digivices, but it could previously be felt across both worlds, correct?"
Tai nodded.
"Yeah, my digivice has never turned itself off before," he confirmed, beginning to get what Neo was hinting at. "So, you're saying that something is blocking Sora's digivice from finding Biyomon?"
"Yes, I think it's most likely that Biyomon is near something that can block that signal, what that could be I don't know. It would take an incredibly powerful barrier to do such a thing however."
Neo picked up his tweezers and began carefully putting back together the digivices. A comfortable silence filled the room, broken up only by the metallic pitter-patter of him working.
"A barrier like the ones that the five tags were behind?" Tai suggested, remembering his first adventure. "Daemon couldn't retrieve them himself because of it."
"Hmm, something like that could probably do it," Neo admitted, cupping his chin with his hand. "If it could keep out Daemon, most certainly. Though I don't know of any such barrier, and even if I did it would probably be long gone anyhow."
Another thought soon occurred to Tai.
"What about the Dark Rings?" he wondered out loud. "What if she'd been captured by the Emperor and he's controlling her with one of the rings?"
"I wouldn't know about that, but it's definitely a possibility," Neo responded. "I don't know anything about these Dark Rings so I won't be of any use."
"You've done more than enough, Neo," Tai said smiling. "I'm sure Sora will be thrilled to know Biyomon is alive somewhere. If the Emperor has her under his control, then all we have to do is free her."
"I only hope it's that simple," Neo declared, standing up. "Things with you have a tendency to-"
Ring-Ring!
Tai stopped in surprise. He fished into his inner jacket pocket and withdrew his cell phone. Neo smirked at the sight.
"Nice phone," he said, with only a hint of smugness. "It suits you."
"Yeah, yeah, rub your wealth in my face why don't ya?" Tai said, flipping his phone open. "Cheap phone is better than no phone."
Tai glared at his friend as he answered the call.
"Hello? Izzy, what's up?"
Tai frowned, standing up in alarm.
"Matt's digivice went off?! Keep him away from any computers, that's how I got sucked in last time! I'm on my way! Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid before I get there!"
He hung up.
"Sorry Neo, got to go. Something urgent has come up."
"I understand, good luck," Neo said wryly, tossing Tai Sora's digivice. "Don't do anything stupid when you get there either."
Tai caught the digivice and smirked.
"Who do you take me for?" Tai said before running down the stairs.
Neo stared after him, his slight smile slipping from his face. As the front door slammed shut, he turned towards his desk and picked up his 01 digivice. He ran his fingers deftly over the screen.
"Who indeed?"
Things were proceeding incredibly smoothly, all things considered. They were walking up a large road up the side of the volcano where the majority of the digimon seemed to be working. Iori watched as yet another contingent of guards was put to sleep by Oryxmon, with the rest watching on. Their ever-growing army of Fugamon then descended upon the sleeping digimon like vultures and began ripping off Dark Rings and shaking the freed digimon awake.
The rookies then mostly fled, running back down the path they came with barely pause for a 'thank you' to their saviours whilst the freed Fugamon would bump fists with the others, have the situation explained and then swear to help cleanse the mountain of the Emperor.
Kari practically preened at this success. She walked with her head held higher, her steps more confident and a grin that looked a lot more like her brother's than Iori had ever realised before. All the Fugamon, each about three times her height, bowed and deferred judgement to her like she was their queen, referring to her as the leader of the Digidestined.
Oryxmon couldn't hide how proud she looked of her partner; even though it was clear exhaustion was beginning to take its toll on her. She walked with her head bowed just that little bit lower after each use of her abilities, but stubborn pride prevented her from saying anything. It probably wouldn't be long before Kari noticed.
Interrupting Iori's ruminations came a cry from Kari.
"Gomamon!"
The girl and Oryxmon ran forwards as Gomamon was slowly shaken awake by one of the Fugamon.
"Wh-what? I'm awake, just napping, sir!" he said alarmed, before noticing Kari. "Huh? A human, who're you? You look familiar."
"It's me Kari, Gomamon!" Kari smiled happily. "Remember?"
The rookie's eyes practically burst out of his head.
"You're Kari? But you're huge now! You must have digivolved like twice!"
Kari and Oryxmon laughed at that.
"Hey Tk, get over here, it's Gomamon!" Kari yelled, waving over the blonde.
Iori hid a grimace. Tk had seemed even more withdrawn ever since this infiltration began. However, the sight of a friendly face seemed to cheer him up.
"Hey buddy," Tk said, smiling down at the rookie.
"Wow, you're huge as well!" Gomamon claimed, smiling up at the two. "And you look just like Matt now!"
Tk blushed, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.
"Well if you think I'm tall you should see Joe," he joked, before seeing the hopeful look on Gomamon's face. "Um, that's sort of why we're here actually."
The two explained the situation to him and he looked resolute.
"He's got Joe locked up here somewhere as well then?" Gomamon frowned. "He's most likely in a high security cell. I've only seen them a couple of times, but I know where they are."
"Excellent," Kari smirked, clenching her fist. "But I think we should take a break for the moment. Oryxmon needs to regain her energy. I'll let everyone know and then we'll begin our rescue attempt."
Kari turned to address the lead Fugamon and they talked briefly for a minute, before she signalled for the others to come gather round.
"We've freed a lot of you and considerably weakened the Emperor's forces here," she claimed. "It won't be long before he notices that something isn't right and begins a counter-attack. By then we'll be ready for him. So rest up and prepare to take this place back from the Emperor!"
Iori was privately relieved that they would get a break. His legs were beginning to ache from all the climbing.
"And who are you, little buddy?"
Iori turned to see Gomamon smiling curiously up at him.
"My name is Iori Hida, pleased to meet you," Iori said politely, bowing to the rookie.
"Wow, you really remind me of Joe," Gomamon smiled. "He was all stiff and polite when we first met as well. That is, when he wasn't freaking out anyway, ha-ha! Well you don't have to worry about that stuff with me. My name is Gomamon!"
"And I'm Armadillomon!" Armadillomon spoke, pointing at himself. "Don't worry, I'm doing my best to get Cody to loosen up."
"Cody?"
"It's his nickname."
"No it's not!" Iori protested.
"Ha-ha, see you're loosening up already!" Armadillomon laughed, high-fiving Gomamon.
Iori would have protested further had he not seen Tk -with Patamon on his head- skulking away from the rest of the group and head into a nearby cave. Curiosity waged war with his worry for the older boy. He had been strangely silent the entire journey.
Unsure of whether he should say anything to the older boy, Iori excused himself from the two rookies and followed after Tk.
The blonde had walked some ways into the deserted cave and sat down with his back against the side-wall.
"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you now?" Patamon asked, flying down from his usual perch onto Tk's knees. "You said you would."
Tk looked down at his partner.
"Yeah…"
"Why are you so sad? Everything's going great," Patamon peered up at his partner with big blue eyes.
"It's just… Kari has grown so much," Tk began, looking down at the ground. "She came up with this plan, she has the Digimental of Hope, she's so strong. What have I contributed this entire time? I've argued with everyone, been nothing but a burden… just like last time."
"Like last time?"
"I always had to be protected and even now I'm older, nothing's changed! I thought I'd grown but I'm even more useless than before!"
Tk drew in a shaky breath.
"You remember, right?" he laughed bitterly. "We were last to reach ultimate, we never really beat anybody. Puppetmon captured me and Matt had to come and save me. In Machinedramon's city whilst everyone else was fighting, all I could do was hide and look after Kari while she was ill."
He clenched his shaking fists as his face scrunched up.
"A-and I couldn't even do that! I-I promised them! I promised them I'd keep her safe and what happens? We were captured instantly! They all kept trying to protect me, you, Gatomon and even Gennai! We would have died had that thing not possessed Kari again."
"That's not true!" Patamon protested, flapping his wings to get his partner's attention. "It's not true that we never beat anybody! We beat Devimon remember? No one else could do it, not even Tai!"
"YOU DIED, PATAMON!"
Silence. Patamon stared in shock at the tracks of tears down Tk's face.
"You died right in front of me," he muttered, angrily wiping at his face. "I swore to never let you go again. I don't want to see you get hurt. I-I don't care what happens to our enemies so long as you're safe."
Patamon seemed stunned as Tk chuckled bitterly.
"It's no wonder the others don't listen to me," he continued. "What could I contribute? How could I compare to any of them? I'm just stupid."
"Tk, you're not stupid!" Patamon protested angrily, his little legs perched on Tk's shoulders as if to shake the stupid out of him. "And you're not useless!"
He looked into the blonde's eyes.
"Do you remember Puppetmon's mansion?" Patamon asked. "You were in my arms and literally vanished into thin air. I have never been more scared then I was back then, especially when I found out you had been captured by Puppetmon. But when I got there, it was you who came out of the mansion and not Puppetmon."
Patamon smiled.
"You had avoided a mega level digimon, at eight years old! With no partner, no back-up and no plan. You still pulled the wool over his eyes!" Patamon looked up at his partner with sparkling eyes. "You were so brave, you never gave up hope that we would come and get you. No one else could have managed that, not even Tai."
Tk stared wordlessly at his partner.
"Patamon…"
"Your time will come, Tk," Patamon spoke. "Just don't give up hope, don't think you're useless because you definitely are not! You did make a difference and that's something to be proud of!"
Tk smiled, more genuinely this time, and rubbed his partner's head.
"Thanks little guy."
"Hey, the little guy's no longer you anymore, Tk!" Patamon cheered.
"I was always bigger than you!"
"Not when I'm Angemon," Patamon pointed out, pushing his chest out proudly.
"But you're not Angemon right now, are you?" Tk said, poking his partner in the belly. "You're my cute little piggy."
"I'm not a pig, Tk!"
"Oink, oink."
"Tk!"
Laughter from the two of them resounded throughout the cave, as nearby Iori listened silently. He was embarrassed to say the least. He had heard something very private he shouldn't have and there was no way he could confess to the older boy about what he'd heard.
And then there was…
"He made a difference…"
Iori shook himself, he refused to draw parallels that weren't there. Quietly, careful to not be seen, Iori left the cave to re-join everyone else.
Kari was with Oryxmon, Gomamon, Armadillomon and what seemed to be the head Fugamon, planning everything out.
"So there's a straight pathway to the main chamber inside the volcano just a few minutes ahead," she summarised. "If Gomamon and maybe Tk with Patamon could split off about halfway they'll have a straight shot to the prison block where Joe is probably being held. The rest of us can assault the centre and ruin whatever it is the Emperor is doing."
"Yes," Fugamon said. "I know our numbers and I have to say I think we've got a majority of my boys out here rather than in there. The only thing we got to worry about is the Emperor's personal pet coming after us."
"Personal pet?" Oryxmon spoke up. "You mean Stingmon?"
The Fugamon shivered.
"I wish. That Stingmon's a daisy-chain compared to the beast the Emperor's been ordering around lately. It's an ultimate level from what I remember hearing, and a real powerful one too."
"Perhaps we should make rescuing Joe and then leaving our priority then," Oryxmon said to Kari. "If there's a chance of running into a powerful ultimate we may not survive."
Kari considered it.
"We can't just give up our home!" Fugamon argued. "My boys will fight any threat that tries to ensnare us, regardless of your support."
"We're not going to make you give up your home," Kari responded placatingly.
"Well I refuse to run," Fugamon folded his arms stubbornly.
"Your death wish," Gomamon shrugged.
"We've been forced to serve the Emperor for far too long," Fugamon explained. "There is honour in fighting to the end, but the Emperor would deny us even this by forcing us to do his bidding. We will not abandon our home!"
Kari felt a headache coming on.
"We're not going to abandon the plan," she decided. "Our current plan will divert most of the Emperor's forces away from the prison anyway. We can get Joe back and you guys can reclaim your volcano. I understand your frustration at losing your home, but well…"
Kari thought back to what her brother had said to her one innocuous day.
"…it's just that sometimes it's best to know when to run away to fight another day."
Something was wrong. The Emperor stood in the control room with Stingmon by his side. He watched as the surveillance footage and logging reports from certain sectors vanished. He sneered, this equipment was out of date and barely functioning compared to what he had at the others. The heat from the volcano was a useful energy source, but it kept interfering with his equipment. He'd even been forced to label everything clearly for the idiot digimon, even dumber than the rest somehow, that he had to use to run this place.
Honestly, if he hadn't found it here, he wouldn't have bothered with this base at all. Perhaps that's why those fools are here? To claim it for themselves?
The Emperor thought to himself. It would make sense. It would account for their random appearances throughout his kingdom. Sometimes on the outskirts and sometimes in the heart of his Empire. Were they looking for them as well?
Either way, they had somehow managed to get past his greatest servant and infiltrated his base. That would not do.
He spoke into the intercom system.
"We have intruders in sector E," he said, not bothering to keep the derision out of his voice. "All security personnel are to report to that area and deal with them!"
He turned off the intercom.
"Let's go Stingmon," he growled, angrily storming off. "As if those idiots will accomplish anything unless I'm there as well."
"Sir," Stingmon began, meekly following his partner. "I would suggest perhaps escaping whilst we can. The command base is docked and ready to leave, we've already got what we came for and you're always complaining about what a waste of effort this place is."
"Run away?!" the Emperor yelled, spinning to face the much larger digimon. "You mean let them win?! I'll…"
The Emperor froze. Suddenly, a smile crept its way across his face, making Stingmon very nervous.
"Master?"
The Emperor spun around back towards the console and began typing.
"My guards are too inept to do their jobs; these children want to interfere with my plans and even my greatest servant was unable to catch them. These fools want this place? They're welcome to it! Disable the generators diverting the magma and this volcano will erupt and destroy this entire base."
"M-master, but that'll kill them all."
"Then they'd better run quickly," the Emperor smirked as he finished. "We have what we came for anyway. The base here was just a bonus, but to be honest who wants a barren wasteland as a kingdom?"
"But we haven't recalled the hunting parties yet," Stingmon pointed out. "They'll all be killed as well!"
"As if I care," the Emperor turned to leave. "This will show them all that any sort of failure, no matter how high up you may seem, will not be tolerated."
He fixed the champion with a look.
"Remember that well, Stingmon."
The champion froze, unwilling to comprehend his partner's words.
"Let's go, Stingmon," the Emperor continued impatiently. "The mobile base won't leave on its own."
The champion looked torn between following his partner and the console. He spared one last glance at the monitors before bowing his head.
"Y-yes master."
"Mystic Bell!" Oryxmon cried out.
The rhythmic gonging sound resonated down the cave system. Even with her hands over her ears, Kari could tell the attack was much weaker than before. Unfortunately, so could the two mind-controlled Fugamon guards rushing towards them. The two didn't even slow down as the sound washed over them, charging straight at the Chosen.
"Missile Storm!"
Over their heads, a barrage of missiles struck the two, blowing them clear off their feet and leaving them down for the count.
"Good work, Pteramon," Iori congratulated his partner.
"I don't think I have any more in me, Kari," Oryxmon panted, clearly sweating. "I'm sorry."
"It's ok, Oryxmon," Kari said reassuringly. "You did fantastic!"
A salve of missiles was fired at the oncoming horde of brainwashed Fugamon. The attack softened the ranks enough for their own horde to charge. Kari withheld a wince as the two sides collided against one another like a continuous train wreck. It also helped that the Fugamon who had their rings destroyed during the fight didn't question their situation at all and immediately started clubbing their former brothers with considerable gusto.
It was rather disturbing how eager the Fugamon were to fight their own brainwashed brethren. Maybe it was a digimon thing?
Either way, the main force was now taking centre stage and with support from Oryxmon and Pteramon, they were carving their way through the dwindling defenders with little trouble. Kari and Iori were at the back, following their forces as they made their way deeper and deeper into the volcano.
The head Fugamon would occasionally appear to give updates to Kari, but the situation didn't change significantly; a fact that worried her.
'The Emperor knows we're here now,' she reasoned. 'Why is he giving so much ground?'
Tk and Gomamon had split off a while ago to try and grab Joe. It was their job to make as much noise as possible to draw his forces here.
So, where was he?
They were coming up to the main chamber. She had been warned that it was a massive hollowed out cavern inside the mountain, but such a simple description didn't do it justice.
It was enormous. Stretching far, both down and up, with a red glow from below signifying the magma bubbling stories and stories below them. Far above lay the top of the volcano. Open to the air, Kari could see the dark and overcast sky. A huge spiral staircase, wide enough to fit several Greymon side-by-side descended downwards into the depths along the wall. Numerous other openings in the walls, some attached to metal walkways, others smaller stone staircases like the one she was on.
All the staircases lead down to a main platform made entirely of rock where she could see the Fugamon fighting the last remnants of the Emperor's forces…
And that's when she caught sight of it.
"By the Great One…" Oryxmon murmured.
It was a titanic Control Spire.
It must have been nearly as tall as the volcano itself. Great massive pipes, themselves the size of apartment buildings had burst out of it and slammed into the walls of the volcano. A great network of black steel and piping was exchanged between it, the magma it was situated on top of and the rock walls. The glow from the magma far below seemed to reflect off it, bathing the entire cavern in a dull, grey light.
"It's not finished," Pteramon noticed.
Kari took a second glance and after getting over the sheer size of the thing, it was clear to see. Large sections of it were nothing but scaffolding clumsily netted together.
"So do we take it down?" Pteramon asked.
"If you've got any ideas on how we'd do that, we're all ears," Oryxmon said dryly.
"It's disgusting," Kari spat out. "We need to do something."
"Kari, there's no way we can take that down," Oryxmon protested. "It's far too large."
CRASH!
"What was that?" Iori asked.
"It came from below!" Pteramon realised.
A horrible roar echoed off the walls as they realised that far below them, something had just burst into the central chamber. The Fugamon screamed as several of them were blown away by a single swipe of the monster's claws.
"It can't be…" Oryxmon murmured, looking horrified.
"Why-what is it?" Pteramon asked. "I can't see through the smoke."
"No…" Kari whispered, eyes wide as she recognised the figure. "You mean it's…"
"Wolf Claw!"
A burst of red energy and scores of Fugamon burst into data, leaving only a handful still alive.
"We've got to help them," Iori yelled. "They're getting massacred!"
Another scream was cut short from below as several more Fugamon were deleted. Kari and Oryxmon could only watch in shock as WereGarurumon stood up at his full height, the cracked remains of a Dark Spiral on his forearm.
"JOE!" Gomamon cried out, slamming into his partner hard enough to knock him down.
"Gomamon!" Joe wheezed, smiling despite the pain and clutching at his partner like he might disappear into smoke at any moment. "You're actually here!"
"Joe, you're ok! You're huge now!"
Joe laughed as Tk with Patamon and two Fugamon caught up.
"Why do you guys all point that out?"
"Hey Joe," Tk greeted. "It's good to see you."
"Likewise," Joe answered, standing up. "I guess these guys are on our side?"
"Yeah," Tk responded. "There's another quicker way to the central chamber from here. We're going to meet up with the others there."
"The others?" Joe asked surprised as they started to follow the Fugamon. "You guys got organised fast."
"Er well," Tk went red. "We kind of came after you without telling them."
"YOU WHAT?!" Joe yelled. "Tk, are you serious?!"
"We were worried, we didn't want to waste time!"
"So it's just you, Kari and the new guys I'm guessing?"
"Well we don't know where Davis and Yolei are," Tk admitted.
"Disaster," Joe muttered. "This is a disaster."
Suddenly, a phenomenally loud sound blurted out:
"WARNING, WARNING, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. ERUPTION DETECTED! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!"
"Eruption?!" Tk screamed. "You've got to be kidding."
"The Emperor must have done something!" one of the Fugamon growled. "The volcano here hasn't erupted for years!"
"Then there might be a way to stop it!" Joe reasoned. "Do you know where some sort of control room might be?"
"It oversees the main chamber, it shouldn't take too long to get there!"
Two mind-controlled digimon suddenly burst in front of them. The Fugamon quickly brought their clubs to bare.
"Go down that way!" one of them pointed. "That should lead there! Get going!"
The four champion digimon began to brawl. Joe and Tk quickly dashed down the corridor, following their faster moving partners.
"This is insane!" Joe yelled. "Once we meet up with Kari and Iori, we're finding the others and getting out of here!"
"Understood!"
After a few minutes of running, Gomamon struck gold.
"Joe, here it is!"
They slammed the door open to find a large control station with several different monitors on the walls and a single (ludicrously decorated) chair. Beyond that was a viewing platform made of glass that looked out onto an absolutely massive chamber.
"Woah," Tk murmured, running up to the glass to examine the outside room. "This has to be the place. Look at that Control Spire, it's huge!"
"Come on, come on!" Joe yelled, trying to make sense of the controls. "'Control Spire Nexus'?! What does that mean? There's got to be a way to stop this eruption or cancel it or something! Damn, I wish Izzy was here!"
"Nexus?" Tk asked. "Like a network?"
"Wait, do you think that giant control spire is somehow connected to the other ones?!" Gomamon wondered. "If we can shut it down or destroy it then the others might stop functioning!"
"But what about the eruption?" Tk protested.
"I can't stop it," Joe answered, looking mystified at the controls. "But if the Control Spires go down then we can digivolve and get out of here!"
"Then let's get down there and help!" Patamon decided.
"Oh no," Tk whispered hands pressed against the glass, face turning white. "The others are already down there! They're fighting- is that WereGarurumon?!"
"What?!" Gomamon cried, looking down at the sight far below them. "He got Gabumon?! We were trying to rescue some rookies the Emperor had captured. I thought that when the smoke blew over us he was able to escape."
Gomamon's face scrunched up.
"I thought he got away. Damn it!"
"Smoke?" Tk asked. "Is that the stuff that came from the mountain?"
"Yeah, whatever that stuff is that the tower keeps releasing," Gomamon said. "It's definitely done something to the volcano, messed it up or something. Apparently, it never used to do anything like this."
"Wait, it releases gas?" Joe suddenly piped up.
"Yeah," Gomamon answered bitterly. "Disgusting, foul-smelling stuff. Huge amounts, enough to blow digimon clear off the mountain when he channels it out the crater at the top. I would know, I've had some close calls."
Joe's face suddenly lit up as he began working with gusto.
"Well I may not be Izzy," he said, pushing buttons and typing in commands. "But I do know one thing. If it's venting gas, then that's probably to stop an overload of pressure."
"Wait," Tk said slowly. "You mean…"
"I'm going to take down that tower," Joe smirked. "The Emperor is going to regret clearly marking which buttons control the vents!"
WereGarurumon howled as another set of missiles shot straight at him. With effortless precision, he jumped straight over them and shot forwards towards Pteramon.
"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon leaped straight into him, knocking the ultimate off-course.
Somersaulting in the air, the ultimate kicked off the side of the volcano to land straight back down on the platform, utterly unhurt.
Gatomon landed as well, nervously facing the ultimate. Oryxmon's Mystic Bell had been useless against the ultimate, so a smaller more agile form was preferable in this fight. Even so, the horrible heat had her panting hard and struggling just to stay alive.
From far above, Kari and Iori watched anxiously as their partners faced off against their former friend. It wasn't looking good. The only reason they hadn't lost yet was because WereGarurumon wasn't fighting intelligently. Only a couple of Fugamon were left now and that was because they were avoiding fighting the enraged ultimate directly. It probably wouldn't take much for either of their partners to be killed or knocked into the churning magma below.
Kari wanted to run down there, but it was already unbearably hot where they were to the point breathing was beginning to become difficult. Nevertheless, she'd endure it if it meant supporting her partner. Iori was taking the heat similarly hard, with sweat on his brow, frowning down in worry for his partner.
Pteramon shot higher up into the air, trying to draw WereGarurumon's attention again. There only clear-cut advantage was that the ultimate couldn't fly, so it was important they maintain it.
"Missile Storm!"
Another barrage of missiles shot towards WereGarurumon, who again leapt out of the way. Some instinct within him was forcing him to protect the remains of the Dark Spiral on his forearm.
"Wolf Claw!"
He swung his claw and sent screaming wave of red energy toward the three champions on the ground. Gatomon threw herself down as the attack passed over her with one of the Fugamon following her lead. The other raised his club in a futile attempt to block the attack. The energy snapped his club and sent him hurtling off the side of the platform and into the magma far below.
"No!" the remaining Fugamon cried out, angrily charging the ultimate.
"Don't do it!" Gatomon growled, darting forwards to try and save the idiot.
"Missile Storm!" Pteramon yelled again, trying to distract the ultimate from the charging champions.
With a roar, WereGarurumon turned towards the oncoming storm and swung his claw again. The air pressure blew the missiles back towards Pteramon. They exploded and threw him back.
Before the ultimate could turn around, Fugamon drew back his club and slammed it into the back of the ultimate's head. In an instant, the club was in WereGarurumon's iron grip and the champion was staring helplessly into the feral eyes of the ultimate.
"Lightning Paw!"
Gatomon stuck low to the ground and slammed her attack into the back of WereGarurumon's knee. He stumbled a little, distracting him long enough for Fugamon to let go of his club and leap away. Gatomon retreated as well, panting from exertion. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pteramon rise shakily back into the air.
"This is bad," Kari noted worriedly. "Gatomon can't keep this up for much longer."
"Pteramon's hurting bad," Iori added, biting his bottom lip. "You can do it, Pteramon!"
"Is it getting hotter in here?" Kari muttered. "I think it is."
Far below she could see the magma churning and bubbling away. Was it higher up than before? A horrible feeling began to settle in Kari's gut. The volcano seemed to tremble for a moment before growing still.
"The volcano's going to erupt," she gasped, wiping the sweat out of her eyes. "We've got to warn them!"
"We can't go down there!" Iori protested. "It's already too hot up here!"
"We have to do something!" Kari yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Gatomon, get out of there!"
But there wasn't anything she could do. It was already like a sauna where they were and any attempts to go further down caused her skin to burn.
'How can they stand this?' she wondered. 'A human would have long ago been cooked alive down there.'
"Kari!" a familiar voice came from above.
She looked up just in time to see a blue blur fall in front of her. Flamedramon landed gracefully, his arms full of children and Hawkmon.
"Davis!" Kari smiled, ecstatic to seem them all well.
"We're here to back you up!" Davis claimed, grinning as Flamedramon let him off.
"There's no time, the volcano is about to erupt!" Iori yelled.
"What?!"
"He's right," Kari said, quickly trying to put a damper on her relief at seeing them. "Flamedramon, we need you to tell the others down there to get out!"
"Got it!" Flamedramon growled, before leaping off the ledge and down into the fight below.
"Fire Rocket!"
A fireball slammed into WereGarurumon and knocked him off balance. He swivelled just in time to see Flamedramon join the rest of his opponents.
"About time you got here," Gatomon panted, smiling despite herself.
"Well, traffic was terrible let me tell you," Flamedramon shot back. "Woo, it's hot down here!"
"Are Davis and Yolei with you?" Gatomon asked, not daring to take her eyes off the growling ultimate in front of them.
"Yeah, I left them and Hawkmon upstairs. Listen, the volcano's about to erupt, we have to get out of here!"
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"I wish! I don't there's much time…"
Just then the world seemed to tilt. The giant Control Spire shuddered as pipes connected to it burst and a horrible groaning sound filled the cavern. The Spire seemed to shift a little, before it's side exploded outwards, sending shards of red-hot metal in every direction. The platform couldn't take the impact; its own metal supports began to snap and buckle along with the Spire's.
"RUN!" Flamedramon screamed as the platform began to fall.
It was insanity. Fugamon was closest to the staircase and managed to make it. Gatomon ran on all fours, moving like lightning itself as the floor beneath their feet crumbled into rock suspended briefly in air. Flamedramon ignored the brief stab of jealousy at the champion's grace and leapt for all he was worth, trying to reach the side or a railing or something to stop him from falling into the magma below.
Pteramon swooped in and grabbed him with his claws.
"Oh, that was close," Flamedramon muttered, almost drunk with relief. "That-was-so-close, thank you!"
"Thank me by eating less," Pteramon joked. "Damn, Gatomon's fast, she's already up there."
Flamedramon looked down to see the giant Control Spire begin to slide into the magma below. It was so large it slammed into the side of the cavern and breaking further apart, before sinking slowly into the encroaching magma.
A shadow darted by.
"The kids!" Flamedramon yelled.
WereGarurumon had jumped as well, and was now climbing the cavern wall at a blistering pace to reach the children. A quick glance around and he could see both Fugamon and Gatomon too far away to do anything.
"Oh wolf-boy," Flamedramon smiled, as he lined up his shot. "You just made a big mistake."
This time WereGarurumon had nowhere to run.
Flamedramon took careful aim and just to be sure, packed it with as power as he could.
"Fire Rocket!"
The attack burst from his claw and slammed into the Dark Spiral on WereGarurumon's arm. There was no contest this time. What was left of the Spiral shattered and WereGarurumon froze in time.
There was the sound of glass shattering and a bewildered Flamedramon just managed to catch the unconscious Tsunomon. Flamedramon blinked in disbelief at the little in-training digimon in his arms.
"That terrifying ultimate was a little guy this whole time?!"
"Explain later!" Pteramon answered as they reached the perch where the kids were.
"We have to leave now!" Gatomon yelled, reaching the children barely a second or two behind Pteramon.
"There's not enough time!" Fugamon yelled, barely staying ahead of the rising magma.
The heat was rising far too fast. The humans were beginning to pass out.
"We've got seconds!" Pteramon roared, trying desperately to grab Iori.
"Damn it, NO!" Flamedramon turned, fighting the oncoming sleepiness with everything he had.
It was too hot, even for the armoured digimon. His vision was growing dark at the edges. The magma was rising too fast. They were… all…
Cold?
"Arctic Blizzard."
They all snapped back to reality as a wave of beautiful cold hit them. The children gasped as they slowly regained awareness and the digimon, formerly in the middle of running for their lives, stood there in shock.
The magma had been completely solidified. It looked almost frozen in time, with ice still impossibly forming on the top.
A thud.
The nine of them looked up to see a large white-furred creature standing on top of the magma with a massive morning-star strapped to its back. They craned their eyes upwards and spotted the familiar blonde boy sitting on its shoulder.
"Hey guys!" Tk greeted cheekily as Patamon waved, before shivering. "Wow, it's cold in here, huh?"
Vikemon smirked at the stunned looks on the others faces.
"You're welcome."
Frustrated silence filled the darkened room. The Emperor sat in his throne in front of the monitors, showing footage of the volcano from the Airdramon he hadn't recalled. His fists clenched as what seemed to be a wave of ice spread out from the volcano and began to topple his forest of Control Spires. He ground his teeth as Spire after useless Spire fell to the oncoming wave and shattered like glass against the ground. Within seconds the entire area, his former volcano base, looked like a damned Christmas card!
"Well, look at this way master," Stingmon said cautiously. "At least we got what we wanted."
"Shut up!" the Emperor growled.
His hands were shaking. Why were they shaking? Visions of that WarGreymon burning his entire fleet in an instant entered his head. The feeling of being utterly helpless as it walked towards him, wicked claws glinting in the sunlight.
'No, no!' he reasoned, focusing on calming his breathing. 'I am not scared. I cannot be scared!'
He buried it down. Shoved it further and further down into his mind, allowing the rage to swallow it up and sharpen his mind. These children had defeated him every encounter. It wasn't fair! There were so many of them! He would pay them back for this humiliation, no matter what it took.
The Emperor stood up from his chair and made his way down the dark metal corridors with Stingmon walking silently behind him.
"This is a temporary setback at the most," he said, walking up to a certain window overlooking a large room.
Inside, placed upon a pedestal, the chunk of ground it had been found on still clinging obstinately to its underside, lay a small silver object.
The Emperor stared directly at his prize, a lucky find from one of the enslaved digimon previously digging away at the volcano.
"After all, soon outposts like that won't even matter," he smirked, eyeing the star-like symbol emblazoned on the object. "I just need a little more time and energy…"
The humming of countless machines had grown into a strange form of comfort for Yamaki. It meant that his project, his life's goal, was still alive. It meant that people were working, progressing. Every minute they inched ever closer to their final goal.
"Sudden increase in flux, sir!"
He sat up straighter. Far above him, the two omni-directional control stations rotated and turned towards the disturbance.
"A Wild One?" he asked gruffly, trepidation and a little bit of excitement hidden in his tone.
"Readings are normal over here," the other operator declared.
Yamaki flicked his lighter.
"It's stabilising again," Riley sounded baffled. "The values are much lower than before though."
"We've never seen that before," Yamaki noted, thinking carefully.
How odd. There could be any number of explanations for this. However, they were still venturing forth into unknown territory. It wouldn't pay to underestimate these freaks if it did turn out to be some sort of trap.
"Set alert level to orange," Yamaki decided. "It could be nothing, but until we've determined a cause, be prepared for another bio-emergence."
"Yes sir," both operators said, already typing away.
Yamaki flipped his lighter closed and looked up at the ceiling of his creation, as if he could speak with the countless unimaginable horrors that lurked just out of sight.
'What exactly are you all planning?'
Vikemon trudged onwards through the now snow-covered land. Gomamon knew the location of another TV, only slightly further away than the one that they had entered through, so they were making their way towards it.
Tk, Kari and their partners sat on the mega's shoulders, happily chatting away with him and each other. Gatomon was curled up, asleep in the fur, with Patamon sitting on top of Vikemon's head to get a better view. Tk cradled the still unconscious Tsunomon in his arms, being careful not to jostle the little guy too much. They had left Fugamon behind in the volcano, with some hasty assurances his home would be back to normal once all the snow and ice had melted.
Behind them, the new chosen had elected to walk. They silently took in the sights of the now-frozen wasteland. Davis, Yolei and Iori walked slowly, each carrying their exhausted partner's in-training forms.
Yolei stared dumbstruck at the sights of the toppled and buried Control Spires all around them in every direction.
"Each time I see it, it just gets more unbelievable," she muttered.
"Huh?" Davis looked at her. "See what?"
Yolei frowned.
"See the older kids in action," she finished.
"Yeah, I know, right?!" Davis cheered. "They're really awesome! I mean look at all of this! We could have a snowball fight for like weeks!"
"I don't think that's what she's getting at, Davis," Iori stated, looking at the sleeping Upamon in his arms.
"What else could she be getting at?"
"I mean, just look at all this," Yolei said, gesturing with her free hand. "We were in the middle of a volcano and he just… froze it!"
"Yeah, so?"
"Then when we came out, he just blew away all the Control Spires as well."
"Right."
"It's just- I never realised how strong they all are," Yolei said, eyeing the back of the large mega in front of them. "We really can't compare."
"It's no wonder they don't take us seriously," Iori agreed. "If they're all capable of something like this. Imagine what a fight between two mega digimon must look like."
All three of them were silent at the thought.
'How bad must the fights they were in that they needed six creatures like this just to survive?' Iori thought to himself.
The thought of having to face such monsters as what the older kids had gone up against sent shivers down his spine.
"I mean," Yolei continued. "The whole fusing with your partner thing is pretty weird as well, right? How does that even work?! They're made of data, aren't they? I'm pretty sure we're not! How can they combine together?"
"Who cares how?!" Davis protested, looking down at the sleeping DemiVeemon in his arms. "All I know is it's awesome! I wonder what sort of powers me and DemiVeemon will get. I bet we get to shoot lasers from our hands! Or maybe we get a massive sword?!"
"Nothing slows you down, huh?" Yolei sighed.
"There's a huge amount of responsibility that comes with this kind of power, Davis," Iori pointed out. "Not just anyone should be able to have access to it."
Davis snorted.
"It's not like I'm gonna go on a rampage or anything," he said. "It's like being a superhero, right? You've just got to defend the digital world from assholes like the Emperor and that's it!"
"If you say so," Iori muttered, looking towards Vikemon's back.
Thoughts of the Ice Wall and the invasion of Odaiba entered his mind. Reports of monsters fighting amongst the ruins, in the sky and out at sea.
Iori tightened his grip on Upamon.
He didn't want to lose anyone else.
A/N: There you have it! Thank you all for your reviews and your patience! Please let me know what you thought of the chapter. What was good, what was bad, etc.
While this story isn't dead, due to a lack of free time, it will be updated slowly. Not as slowly as last time, you guys won't have to wait another year. But I am working on it, so take some solace in that.
Again, thank you guys for your patience and I hope you enjoyed!