Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon
Chapter Twelve
The Key from the Past
The beaten Resistance finally made it to their new location, a cave near Freezeland.
There, they began a lament for all their fallen comrades, and mourned the passing of the four who had sacrificed themselves so they could escape.
They stayed hidden there for two days, while scouts went out to bring the various other small parts of the Resistance that had fled by land or air to them. They also heard that the entire Digital World had capitulated to the Covenant, and that Ghoulmon and his allies were now in complete control. Rumour had it that Jijimon, the leader of File City, had returned with all the former inhabitants of the city, and that he had been destroyed by an irritated Ghoulmon.
Server had surrendered, as had the Pixel Islands. Folder and Directory had attempted to put up a small resistance, but had been 'dissuaded' by Devitamamon and Ebemon. Dark Digimon spread across the Digital World, and the enemy had finally taken over.
They all gathered in the central chamber of the cave, to discuss their next move.
Azulongmon looked at them all sadly as they entered.
"We stand on the brink of annihilation. If we do not stand together, we will be destroyed."
Tai looked at him.
"But I don't understand how! We can nearly all digivolve to Mega, so how come we cant defeat the Covenant?"
Azulongmon sighed.
"Digivolution is not my area of expertise. Zhuqiamon?"
The massive bird cleared his throat and began to explain.
"When a Digimon first goes to the Mega form, he is as strong as he can get for a while. His first digivolution is the peak of his strength. The next few times, his power is weaker, until about five times after the first digivolution. After that, the Mega form will be as strong as it was the first time they did it, the strongest it will get. So far, only WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon have went to their Megas more than five times. Also, the experience you gained fighting the Dark Masters has also aided you. Patamon and Gatomon are the only ones that are even close to what they should be to defeat any powerful Mega. The Covenant have been Megas for quite some time, and as they spend their time as a Mega, they only have to wait a while for their full strength to be gathered. That is why you are finding it so hard to defeat them."
Gennai nodded slowly.
"There's also the problem that they're powerful Megas at the best of times."
Fanglongmon snarled.
"We will defeat them. We have to!"
Baihumon growled.
"There is also the problem that Ghoulmon has managed to disturb your unity."
They all looked taken aback.
"How?"
Azulongmon snarled.
"Your actions proved it. Ghoulmon used a spell that would alter your judgement terribly. The result was that you did something you would not ordinarily do. Ghoulmon has started to alter events in the real world, which is not good news."
"You're saying Ghoulmon made us do what we id?" Sora demanded.
"Yes. The border between the worlds is weakening. And he used that to his advantage. He turned you all against each other."
"And his schemes are still afoot. That's why Kari has been so angry recently. His power affects her strongest because she is the Bearer of Light." Leomon said.
Kari frowned.
"So, I'm not myself?"
"You are yourself. But your behaviour is being affected by Ghoulmon. However, I used my magic to remove the spell from you. You wont be affected any longer."
"But I still feel like I did before." she said angrily.
"Indeed. That is a device of your own making." Leomon said.
TK and Davis looked at her sadly, and she pouted.
"bugger." she said, one of the rare occasions in which swore.
Matt looked at her sympathetically, and turned to Ebonwumon.
"Why did the Crests come back? We gave them up to release you."
Davis snorted.
"And a fat lot of good that did us."
Ebonwumon shot him a dirty look and turned to Matt.
"We had to release the Crests again. As Davis, perhaps rightly, points out, our release hasn't done much. The only time before now a Sovereign has been of any use to you was when Azulongmon faced off BlackWarGreymon. We knew that to stand a chance of defeating Ghoulmon and his Covenant, you would need to be able to reach the Mega level. So far, you've been using the Digi-Cores, but we were running low on them, so we decided to forgo our release from the prison to enable you lot to survive long enough to release us yourselves. Now, the Crests are back, and are back to stay. We fear they have an important role to play before the end."
"Who did we all release anyway? I always wondered." Izzy said.
"Kari and TK released me with their crests. Matt and Sora's ones were used to free Ebonwumon, while Tai and Izzy freed Baihumon and Mimi and Joe freed Zhuqiamon. Fanglongmon was freed by the combined might of all eight." Azulongmon explained.
Joe raised a hand.
"How come Gomamon cant digivolve?"
Zhuqiamon leaned forward.
"I fear Gomamon has unintentionally given himself a block. He kept telling himself that he was useless because he couldn't be like the others and digivolve to Mega. As a result, he accidentally stopped himself digivolving at all."
Gomamon blinked away tears.
Zhuqiamon leaned forward, and the massive fiery bird had a kindly look on his face, which made a change.
"Your time will come. And even if it doesn't, even the smallest Digimon may make the largest difference."
He gave him a wink and straightened, and Gomamon smiled.
"I will digivolve. I promise you Joe."
Joe smiled and scratched Gomamon's head.
"I don't doubt it."
Sora turned to Biyomon.
"We survived. So explain why Gryphonmon wants to kill you."
Biyomon nodded.
"I forgot about that. In ancient times, before even this lot came along, there were Digimon that had lordship over separate parts of the world. Let's say for argument's sake that Cherrymon had lordship over the forests, MegaSeadramon the sea and so on. Well, there was a lordship of fire and air. Now, that's all very well. At first, a Gryphonmon ruled the sky, and a Phoenixmon ruled the fire. However back then, Gryphonmon was also part fire, and he started to try to take over fire as well. The Phoenixmon responded in kind and tried to take over the air. Eventually, they fought each other to a standstill, and it was then that Zhuqiamon here arrived and claimed lordship over the two of the realms. That ended the fighting, but Gryphonmon always blamed Phoenixmon for the fall from grace he suffered, even though it was his fault. And that's why he's always trying to kill me."
Biyomon finished her story, and then Leomon brought the meeting back to it's purpose.
"How are we going to destroy the Covenant? If we don't do it soon, there wont be a Digital World to save."
"Yep yep. Very serious business now." Piximon said.
"We need to move quickly. Time is now of the essence. If the Covenant rules much longer unopposed, we will eventually lose all support and be destroyed." Fanglongmon said.
Arukenimon and Mummymon, who were still rather sore, leaned forward slightly. The Digidestined had softened to them considerably since they had helped so much in the battle.
"Cant you lot think of anything? You fought a powerful group of Megas before, the Dark Masters. Isn't this the same thing?" Arukenimon asked.
Izzy was about to say something when he suddenly stopped. His eyes went wide, and he smiled.
"Arukenimon, you're a genius!"
She looked mildly pleased.
"Of course I am. How am I?"
Izzy ignored her and turned to Tai.
"How did we defeat the Dark Masters?"
Tai then cottoned on.
"One at a time. We got stronger all the way through."
"Exactly. But they were split up. They did it to themselves. Had it not been for Piximon and Chuumon, we would have been killed when we first met them. But because they weren't unified, they were easier to kill. That's how we can kill the Covenant! If we split them up, we can kill them off!"
Gennai smiled.
"Yes. Also, it nullifies them. They've learnt from fighting you. They know that if evil works together, they can cause a lot more damage than being independent. They're following your example. If you force them to split up, it means their power is greatly reduced!"
Mummymon smiled.
"It might work. It might just work!"
Matt frowned.
"There's twelve of us. What do we do, divide into six groups of two, or two groups of six?"
Yolei shook her head.
"Two's too few. We need at least three. And six is too many. We'd get too many members chasing after us."
Ken nodded.
"Four groups of three. That will get us half the Covenant."
"But it also means they could be reinforced by the other half." TK pointed out.
Baihumon shook his head viciously.
"Not if there are two other groups running around. There are five Sovereigns, and we have BlackWarGreymon. That will give us two more groups of three. Six groups. One member has to stay at Mount Infinity at all times to see if there are any uprisings, and also to keep control of the army, and another needs to be ready to fly to a hotspot at a seconds notice. We only need the six groups."
BlackWarGreymon hissed softly.
"Will they take the bait? And where do we go? If we're too close together, we may be able to reinforce each other, but so will they."
Azulongmon smiled.
"They will take the bait. The Digidestined and the Sovereigns are their biggest problem now. If either group is defeated, they're victorious."
"We have a plan. Now, lets make sure it works."
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An hour later, the Digidestined left the room to get ready, and the Resistance members left to run their rebellion, leaving the Sovereigns and Gennai.
"You never told them." Gennai stated.
"Too early. We will have to soon." Ebonwumon said.
"We don't have proof yet." Zhuqiamon snarled quietly.
"Proof? The rise of the Covenant, the weakening of the border between the worlds, aren't they proof enough?" Fanglongmon asked.
"Not in and of themselves." Azulongmon said.
Baihumon took the decision.
"We wait until we have definite proof. Then we tell them."
Gennai nodded sadly.
"And then we will need all the help we can get."
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Eventually, it was decided. Tai, Matt and Sora would go to Dino Region. Joe, TK and Kari (a move by Tai to try and cheer his sister up by getting her back with her boyfriend) would go to Mount Panorama. Izzy, Davis and Cody would stay in Freezeland. Ken, Yolei and Mimi would go to Factorial Town. Azulongmon, Baihumon and Zhuqiamon would go to the west of Gear Savannah while Ebonwumon, Fanglongmon and BlackWarGreymon would go to Overdell. The Covenant would (hopefully) split up and chase after them, and then they would hopefully be able to wear them down enough so that they could eventually destroy them.
Joe grabbed Mimi as she went passed.
"Mimi, be careful out there."
She blushed and smiled.
"I will. I suppose I'll have to do without you and Izzy to protect me."
Joe remembered the advice Tai had given him when he had asked for help Be spontaneous.
He nodded.
"You'll be fine. You have to be. You're tough."
She smiled and went to leave with Ken and Yolei.
"Oh damn it." he muttered.
He then grabbed her, and pulled her around to face him.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Something I should have done a long time ago."
He then kissed her full on the lips.
Two minutes later, they broke apart, to a chorus of cheers and whistles.
"Mimi! I told you he would do it! I told you!" Palmon cried happily.
"About time you did that!" Gomamon said happily.
"Bravo." Azulongmon said.
Mimi was staggered.
"Joe, that wasn't what I was expecting."
Joe grinned sheepishly.
"I should have done that ages ago. Sorry it took so long."
She grinned.
"Well, make sure you come back in one piece so I can return the favour."
She then went happily to her party, which soon left.
Joe looked wistfully after her, then went to join his own group.
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Izzy smiled as Mimi left. Now that she had made her choice, he was happy. As long as Joe treated her alright, which he was sure he would, there wouldn't be a proble,.
Tentomon flew up beside him.
"You'll find someone someday Izzy. Don't be down. 'Always look on the bright side of life'."
Izzy grinned at his friend.
"Thanks pal."
And then they too left.
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Mimi was whispering to Palmon.
"Palmon, it was like dynamite! I know he doesn't look like it but I think he has some serious stuff tucked away."
Palmon's eyes went wide with shock.
"Pardon?"
"Put it this way: it was like there was dynamite going off in my head, and down below for him I think."
Palmon was flabbergasted as Mimi walked off, giggling. Palmon shook her head. It was about time her friend got a little of the love that had blossomed in the team.
However, this news meant that there was a lot of interesting conversations to come.
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Azulongmon looked down on them all as they all split up.
"Good luck to us all! May our enemies soon be destroyed!"
And then under his breath he mumbled:
"And let us hope we all destroy at least one member, and hope that none of us runs into Ghoulmon."
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Ghoulmon nodded as Devitamamon gave him the report.
"All splitting up into separate groups you say."
"Yes. Now is the perfect time to strike!"
Ghoulmon frowned. Something about this wasn't right.
"Patience would be our best weapon."
Ebemon scoffed.
"Rubbish! We can take three of them! Imagine. We could bring an end to the Digidestined in one swift stroke! And two of us could still stay here! We wouldn't even need all of us."
Ghoulmon's doubts were then clamed.
"Very well. Wipe them out. All of them!"
With that, six of them sped off: Gryphonmon to end his ancient rivalry in Dino Region, Devitamamon to Mount Panorama, Ebemon to Freezeland, GranKuwagamon to Factorial Town, HiAndromon to Overdell and SkullMammothmon to Gear Savannah.
Boltmon and Ghoulmon watched them go.
"This will be the end of the Digidestined." Boltmon said happily.
Ghoulmon smiled evilly.
"Indeed it will. The time of good is over. The time of evil has come."
And with that, he turned and went into his chambers to make a call, to inform them of the impending good news.
So, a last desperate plan to defeat the Covenant! Will it work?
I told you there was a death this chapter, but I forogt about this chapter.
So, will this plan work? Will any Covenant members be destroyed, or will it be our side that is harmed?
Joe is finally together with Mimi! I actually forgot that this was their love story, but I've remembered now, so there will be a lot more to come. Up until now we've only had hints.
What are the Sovereigns not telling the Digidestined?
Who will Kari decide on?
Will Gomamon digivolve?
And who is Ghoulmon calling?
All will be revealed eventually!
Until next time, please read and review!
