Author's Note: Almost thought that I wasn't going to be able to add this chapter today because of problems with this site's login page. Anyway, there's not too much to say about the chapter at this point. The only things to mention are that there's no Phil Collins or Genesis song used for the title of this chapter and that this is basically the climax of the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
Chapter 12: Hope and Light
Kari looked out over The Dark Ocean. There was nothing else that she could do as she was tied to a wooden cross at the end of that horrible black reef. A hoard of Deep Ones had gathered at the beach behind the reef awaiting the arrival of their god. Daemon hovered in the sky above to watch the ritual that was about to take place. Suddenly the waves hitting against the black reef and the beach began to grow larger. Kari was drenched several times by the mist. The Deep Ones took the occurrence as a signal that their god was about to appear and began bowing repeatedly to the ocean and chanting in their horrid croaking voices.
At last something began to rise up from the ocean. In the beginning only a pale-blue dome was visible, but quickly the thing came into full view. The creature had an octopus-like head with piercing red eyes and tentacles that just covered a fang filled mouth. From what Kari could tell its body was nothing but a mass of tentacles that were coiled together to form a humanoid shape. On its so-called back was a pair of large orange bat-like wings, and it wore a set of prayer beads around what might be considered by some to be a neck. The very sight of the thing combined with its massive size filled Kari with paralyzing terror.
"Behold!" Daemon called out. "The Sinful Priest of the Ocean Floor, Dragomon, has arrived!"
The rate of the Deep Ones' chanting increased as Dragomon took two steps towards the reef. The ocean god stopped only a few feet away from the reef and looked down at Kari. Despite the distance Kari could smell Dragomon's breath. It was the foulest thing she had ever smelled, like a piece of meat that had spoiled for a thousand years. The stench was almost suffocating, and Kari found herself actually welcoming the sent of salt and dead fish that always seemed to be present at that horrid ocean.
"So this is the fabled child of light." Dragomon said in a deep and slopping sounding voice as he eyed Kari like a piece of meat on a stick. "I can see why my subjects wanted her to breed with. That thought occurred to me as well just now."
Kari almost passed out when she heard Dragomon's remark. The thought of the Deep Ones violating her was unspeakable enough, but the very idea that Dragomon also expressed an interest in using her for his sick pleasures… Kari could not even bring herself to imagine it, lest she lose what remained of her sanity.
"But alas, The Old Ones have decreed that you must be sacrificed so that the barrier between this realm and the realms of the Digital and human worlds may be broken." Dragomon continued, making it clear that he was speaking to Kari. "Once that is done however, a new age will begin for both realms. The humans and Digimon who survive our advent shall come to see The Old Ones and myself as gods, and we shall teach them the ways of chaos and destruction. Then at long last both worlds shall become as my kingdom. You should feel honored child of light, for your blood shall pave the way for a new era."
It seemed to Kari that the end had finally come. She took some small comfort in the fact that she was only going to be killed and not used for the sick desires of some unholy creature. Then in the distance Kari noticed something in the sky flying towards Dragomon, and it was coming fast. From what Kari could tell the thing had wings, and it suddenly flapped them and sent a shower of fireballs at Dragomon. The projectiles did not seem to cause Dragomon great pain, but it did cause the ocean god to turn and look to see what hit him. Then the thing that attacked Dragomon came close enough for Kari to make out, and her heart leapt when she saw just what it was.
It was an orange Pegasus with gold wings and armor, and riding on its back was a young man with blond hair and a large white cat. Immediately Kari knew that it was T.K. and Gatomon riding on Patamon's armored form of Pegasusmon. Of course Kari was not the only one to notice who Dragomon's attackers were. Daemon also saw the arrival of Kari's would be rescuers. The Demon Lord raised his arms forward to send forth a stream of fire that would knock Pegasusmon out of the sky when he was hit in the side by a beam of purple light. Daemon turned to see Devimon hovering only a few feet away with a cocky smile on his face.
"The child of hope and his servant are Dragomon's opponents!" Devimon proclaimed. "Your battle is with me Old One!"
"I spared you because I admired your ambition." Daemon said calmly but with a note of irritation. "But I see now that the only way for me to teach you your place is to kill you."
"You may try Old One, but before this day is over I shall destroy you and claim your power for myself!" Devimon boasted.
"We shall see arrogant one." Daemon replied.
As Daemon and Devimon began an aerial battle over the beach, T.K. and Pegasusmon continued attacking Dragomon just as Perseus attacked the Kraken in the myths of ancient Greece. The attacks only seemed to irritate Dragomon however, and the ocean god swatted at Pegasusmon with his tentacles. The tentacles managed to hit Pegasusmon, but the winged horse Digimon managed to make a rough landing on the black reef in front of Kari. T.K. and Gatomon were knocked off of Pegasusmon's back as he hit the reef. The impact had caused the winged horse to revert back to Patamon.
Despite the rough landing, T.K. and Gatomon got back to their feet quite quickly. Patamon meanwhile was quickly able to get back up and flew up to hover in front of T.K. As T.K. and Patamon stood and faced Dragomon, Gatomon ran to help Kari.
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you Gatomon." Kari said tearfully.
"I'm really happy to see you too Kari, but we'll have to save the reunion for later." Gatomon said seriously as she busied herself with cutting the ropes that held Kari to the cross with her claws.
T.K. and Patamon meanwhile were preparing to face Dragomon.
"So you are the child of hope." Dragomon said in a tone that could be considered amusement. "The attacks of your servant were useless against me, yet you still dare to oppose me?"
"I'll fight you to the end to save Kari!" T.K. declared.
"You would die to protect the child of light?" Dragomon asked with a hideous laugh. "Does she really mean so much to you that you would throw away everything?"
"I love her!" T.K. blurted out, forgetting that Kari was within earshot. "And I would give my life to protect her from any evil! Nothing else matters as long as she's safe! But no matter what I'll se to it that you and your followers never try to hurt Kari again, even if it means I have to destroy you and this whole ocean!"
As Dragomon laughed at T.K.'s proclamation, Kari was completely moved by what she had just heard. She had hoped, especially recently, that T.K. felt about her the same way she had felt about him, but she had no idea that he cared for her so much. Kari actually felt quite guilty; she thought that T.K. deserved someone better than her. She had given up on T.K. twice, recently when Daemon attacked him on that beach, and years ago when she started going out with Davis. Kari felt certain that she was not good enough for T.K. to risk his life for.
"You can boast all you like but it will do you no good." Dragomon said to T.K. "After all, how could someone like you ever hope to overcome my power?"
"I don't know how I'll beat you, but I will!" T.K. proclaimed. "I don't have all that much faith in myself, but there are people who do, people I care about! And those people have fought for me many times! I believe in them because they believe in me, and I know that somehow their belief in me will be enough to defeat you!"
Suddenly T.K.'s D-3 began to spark and beep rapidly on his belt. The sparking and beeping increased steadily until it let out the mechanized cry of one word.
"BIOMERGE!"
With that word T.K. turned into a ball of golden light that entered Patamon and caused a startling transformation.
"Patamon biomerge digivolve to… Seraphimon!" Patamon cried as he transformed with a blinding flash, his voice becoming similar to Angemon's as he uttered the name of his most powerful evolutionary form.
When the light cleared it revealed a humanoid figured clad in shining silver armor, his face completely covered by a helmet with a gold cross on the front, a pair of gold wings on the sides, and a gold blade on top that somewhat resembled a Mohawk. A gold breechcloth with words written in the language of the Digital World upon it hung down in front of his legs. On his back were ten gold-feathered wings that shined with a light so bright that it banished the gloomy grey twilight of The Dark Ocean.
Not too far away, Deamon blasted Devimon with on final blast of hellfire. The attack had finished Devimon off, and the Fallen Angel Digimon began to slowly disintegrate into particles of data that evaporated into the air. Both Deamon and Devimon noticed Seraphimon's arrival however, and Devimon began to laugh evilly when he saw the Celestial Digimon.
"I may have lost to you Old One, but it seems that at least you will not triumph either!" Devimon declared to Daemon. "Now that Seraphimon has come, you and your high priest Dragomon stand no chance of succeeding! And as for you Seraphimon, and you too boy, for I know you can hear me, I have one last thing to say to you both!"
Seraphimon turned his head to hear what the dying Devimon had to say.
"I am impressed by how powerful you've become!" Devimon said to Seraphimon as he continued to fade away. "You have far exceeded my expectations and have proven to be worthy foes! I ask that you do me only one favor and do what I could not do, destroy The Old Ones! I may not be able to claim their power, but at least with you I may have revenge! I know you will not disappoint me!"
With those words, Devimon laughed one last time before fading away completely. Within Seraphimon, T.K. was trying to figure out just what was going on. He was not certain of course, but it looked to him like he and Patamon had somehow become one, though he had no idea how or why it happened. Nor did he have any idea what to do next. Was he now supposed to fight Dragomon?
"T.K." Seraphimon's voice called out. "Your hope and your belief in your ability to save Kari have allowed us to unite. Together we can stop Dragomon and Daemon and put an end to this nightmare."
T.K. still didn't understand what was going on, but he decided that he would figure it out later. All that mattered was that he and Patamon had gained the power to save Kari and he intended to use it.
"What sorcery is this?" Dragomon asked angrily. "I do not know what power you have used to gain this form, but no matter what tricks you have you cannot defeat me! I am the god of this realm, and no power you have is stronger than mine!"
"You are no god Dragomon!" Seraphimon declared in both his own voice and T.K.'s. "You are only a monster worshipped by the twisted and depraved! No true god would condone the murder of innocent people and revel in blood and destruction!"
"You know nothing of my power!" Dragomon shouted. "I will make you pay for your insults and destroy you right now!"
With that, Dragomon lashed at Seraphimon with an arm of tentacles, but with lightning speed Seraphimon not only dodged the attack but cut off the arm of tentacles with a sword blade that had extended from his right gauntlet. Dragomon roared in pain as he held the stump with his other arm of tentacles.
"Now you see how weak you truly are!" Seraphimon declared as he retracted his blade and raised his arms forward. "Strike of the Seven Stars!"
With those words Seraphimon fired a cluster of seven fireballs from his hands. The fireballs hit Dragomon in his side and knocked him into the shallow water. Seraphimon was about to fire another attack, but a stream of fire suddenly got in his way. The Celestial Digimon turned and saw Daemon hovering not too far away.
"You are indeed powerful Seraphimon, but with me here you cannot win!" Daemon declared. "For just as Devimon is the opposite of Angemon, I am your opposite! I am the darkness to your light! Ages ago I was in fact a Seraphimon myself, but my anger at the gods of the Digital World caused me to take on this form and to join the ones who fought against those gods. I am your reflection Seraphimon! And against both me and Dragomon you cannot hope to triumph!"
"Even if that is true I shall still win!" Seraphimon proclaimed. "In case you haven't noticed I just wounded your ally Dragomon! And I can still defeat you even if you are my reflection! For good will always triumph over evil!"
"Really?" Deamon asked sounding amused. "Let us test just how valid your claims really are!"
Just as Daemon finished speaking, a gigantic pair of jaws burst forth from the water's surface under Seraphimon. The Celestial Digimon managed to fly out of the grasp of those massive jaws just in time before they chomped down. Seraphimon looked down at what had just tried to eat him and saw an enormous and almost prehistoric looking red crocodile with a black scaly back. The thing had two tails with blue fins on the end, and its eyes glowed like a pair of blue fireballs. From within Seraphimon T.K. recognized the creature from his nightmare about the aquarium as the thing in the tank that ate Kari.
"That is Leviamon!" Daemon introduced. "Like me he is what that fool Devimon would call an Old One, one of the leaders in the war against the gods of the Digital World."
"Daemon, why have you and Dragomon not completed the ritual that will allow all of us to leave this realm?" Leviamon asked in a deep reptilian voice. "The master grows impatient."
"A minor annoyance has gotten in our way." Daemon explained. "But with your help we can remove it once and for all and get on with the ritual."
"You mean this Angel Digimon that shines with such a glorious light?" Leviamon asked. "I suppose I can help you destroy him. Perhaps I may gain his power if I eat him."
"How typical of you Leviamon, always coveting the powers of other Digimon when you yourself may perhaps be one of the strongest Digimon of them all." Daemon commented wryly.
Just as Daemon finished talking, Seraphimon saw a gigantic trident being thrown at him and moved just in time to avoid being hit. The Celestial Digimon looked and saw that the trident had been thrown by Dragomon, who was now standing back up and glaring at him with red glowing eyes filled with rage.
"As you can see Seraphimon, while Dragomon may be wounded he is still quite powerful!" Daemon declared. "And both Leviamon and myself are at full strength! Against the three of us you cannot win!"
With that Daemon launched another blast of hellfire at Seraphimon and a terrible battle with three opponents ensued. Seraphimon kept dodging Daemon's flames, Dragomon tentacles and trident, and Laviamon's jaws, along with the corrosive rainbow colored smoke that Leviamon breathed from his nostrils. All the while Seraphimon fired off his own attacks, but when he fired at one opponent the other two would intercept it. The Celestial Digimon and the human partner within him were beginning to feel overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, Gatomon had finally finished cutting through Kari's ropes. The feline Digimon was surprised at just how thick they were. But just because Kari was freed did not mean that she was out of danger. The Deep Ones had started to become restless since Seraphimon's battle with Dragomon began. Several members of the hoard had slowly started to head towards the reef. Gatomon was at a loss as to what to do, there was no way that she could take on an army of Deep Ones by herself, and Seraphimon was too busy trying to fight Damon and his two aquatic titans.
Kari meanwhile was too preoccupied with Seraphimon's battle to notice the hoard of Deep Ones heading towards her and Gatomon. Once she had been freed from the cross she took two steps forward and fell to her knees, all the while keeping her eyes on Seraphimon. Kari knew that Seraphimon was also T.K.; she saw the biomerge evolution occur with her own eyes. She did not know the how or the why, but it did not matter. The only thing that mattered to Kari was T.K. was fighting to protect her, and that he might die doing it.
"…Why?" Kari asked getting Gatomon's attention. "Why is T.K. fighting so hard to save me?"
"Why do you think Kari? T.K. loves you." Gatomon answered sounding a little surprised by her human partner's question. "He's crazy about you. T.K. never gave up hope that he would find you, and he even risked working with Devimon to come here and save you."
"He shouldn't try so hard to save someone worthless like me." Kari stated tearfully. "I don't deserve him!"
"What? Kari that's just not true!" Gatomon exclaimed, becoming somewhat unaware of the large group of Deep Ones that was slowly creeping towards them on the reef.
"It is true!" Kari maintained as she became more upset. "I'm a total idiot! T.K. fights so hard to protect me and he said that he believed in me because he thought I believed in him! But the truth is I've given up on him several times! I even gave up on the idea that T.K. thought of me as more than just a friend and wasted years with that son of a bitch Davis! I even took that idiot back twice after he cheated on me! I was sure that T.K. wouldn't want anything to do with me after that! And yet here he is still trying to save me again and it might just get killed! He shouldn't throw away his life to save me! He doesn't deserve to die! He's trying so hard to save me and I can't do anything to help him! I can't save anyone!"
As Kari wallowed in self-loathing and regret the Deep Ones continued to advance. Meanwhile the combined power of Daemon, Dragomon, and Leviamon was becoming too much for Seraphimon to handle. It was getting harder for the Celestial Digimon to dodge some of the attacks of his opponents. What was worse was that Daemon and his two comrades were becoming better at coordinating their assault. From within Seraphimon T.K. was feeling less and less sure that he could win, and down on the ground Kari was feeling the same way.
"Why is he wasting his time on me?" Kari cried as she started repeatedly hitting the ground that was the black reef hard with her hand. "Why? Why? Why? Why?"
The Deep Ones began closing in on Kari and Gatomon, and Seraphimon's three opponents looked ready to deliver one final blow. Kari looked back up and saw that T.K. was about to be hit badly and shouted his name at the top of his lungs. In that very instant Kari's D-3 began sparking and beeping rapidly, increasing in intensity until it let out the mechanized cry of one word.
"BIOMERGE!"
With that word Kari turned into a ball of pink light that went into Gatomon, causing a blinding flash of light that not only repelled the Deep Ones but also got the attention of Seraphimon, Daemon, Dragomon, and Leviamon.
"Gatomon biomerge digivolve to… Ophanimon!" Gatomon cried as she transformed in that explosion of light, her voice changing as she uttered her other name.
When the light finally cleared, it revealed a woman in blue-green and silver armor that had a design similar to Seraphimon's. Though there were quite a few differences. Her helmet did not cover her entire face, it revealed only her mouth, and it did not cover up her long flowing strawberry blond hair. Though the helmet did had the same gold cross on the front as Seraphimon's. The front part of the armor revealed Ophanimon's bare stomach, and instead of normal leg armor she had a white shimmering skirt that was covered in the regular blue-green armor above the knees. On her feet she wore elegant high-heeled shoes the same color as her armor, and on her back were eight golden wings that shined with a brilliant light.
"Impossible!" Daemon exclaimed. "How could the child of light have produced another Celestial Digimon?"
T.K. was a little confused as well as he looked on through Seraphimon's eyes, especially since the last time Gatomon had evolved to a Mega-Ultimate form it was a pink dragon called Magnadramon. Still, T.K. decided that it didn't matter, and he had to admit that he wasn't really surprised. Whenever things were at their darkest, Kari had always managed to show her true power and save the day. T.K. had always believed in that power, he had always believed in Kari herself in fact. Looking back, T.K. realized that it was his belief in Kari that allowed him to keep fighting, to keep going during that dark month when she was missing without a trace. Maybe T.K. couldn't believe in himself, but he realized that he could always believe in Kari, and once again that belief renewed both his own strength and Seraphimon's.
"Daemon!" Seraphimon called, once again speaking with his own voice and T.K.'s. "This battle ends now!"
Author's Note: So as you've just read I used the Biomerge evolution method from Digimon Tamers to unlock Patamon and Gatomon's Mega forms in this story. I will of course explain how T.K. and Kari were able to Biomerge in the next chapter, which will by the way be the last chapter. Although there will be an epilogue too, so you may just want to wait until that's up to read the next chapter. Then again I may just wait to add the next chapter when I have the epilogue written and add them both at the same time. We'll just see what I feel like doing.
Anyway, the main reason why I used the Biomerge method is because I thought it'd be a better battle if T.K. actually fought Daemon and Dragomon himself instead of just standing by and watch Seraphimon fight for him. That was one of the small things that bugged me about Adventure and Adventure 02, the Digimon did all the fighting and the kids just watched sort of. Not that they were useless of course, but it sometimes seemed like they didn't add much to the battles.
As for why I used Ophanimon for Gatomon's Mega form instead of Magnadramon, I did that for two reasons.
1.) I don't know if anyone whose watched Tamers has ever noticed this, but all of the Digimon who evolved by Biomerging had a humanoid shape. Even MegaGargomon, who was a giant, had a head, two arms, two legs, and a torso.
2.) I felt that Gatomon evolving into a form that was essentially Seraphimon's female counterpart would be symbolic of Kari fully realizing her feelings for T.K.
So I guess one of the few good things that came out of Digimon Frontier was that it gave us all this alternative to Magnadramon.
So what do you think about me using the Biomerge method in this story, do you like it? Hate it? What about me using Ophanimon instead of Magnadramon? Please review and tell me what you think. Your opinions won't change the story, but I'd like to know anyway. Also, stay tuned for the exciting conclusion to Digimon: Home by the Sea!