The small band had left the swamp behind them, moving forward into the open field again. It was a relief to get it out of the way, for the swamp held a particular scent to it. Maybe it was the gasses? Either way, they were out, and just as lost as they were before.
"So anybody have any ideas on where to go?" Jun asked, hands behind her head.
Kazuya, being the unofficial leader of the group, came up with an idea. It just popped in his head and he felt compelled to speak. "Simple, we find the Fallen Angels and take them out."
Jun eyed the goggle boy suspiciously. "Really? That's your idea?"
Kazuya shot her back a look, "You got a better idea?"
Jun frankly didn't, but she did have her doubts, "Look I'm all for fighting evil if it means going home, but I mean do you realize how powerful these guys probably are?"
"Hmm?" Kazuya grunted.
"I mean, these guys are supposed to be the head honchos of the bad digimon right? And as Ms. Fairy Scales said, our digimon are at a low level."
There was that, and even Kazuya had to silently admit his lofty plan was just that, lofty.
"Eh so what! I can take them!" Penguinmon suddenly boasted. The little penguin strutted and waddled his way towards the front, looking his best to appear tough
Jun looked at him oddly and muttered, "What are you doing?"
Penguinmon looked up at his partner, his strong front fading away as he felt her eyes on him, "Um...trying to act tough?"
Jun wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but merely muttered, "Um...okay."
Meanwhile, watching all of this, Labramon had to voice her thoughts. "Well Labramon, I mean I think you are plenty tough Pen Pen!" the canine piped, briefly lapsing into her childish speech.
Hearing his digimon talk, Sho had to know something. "Labramon? Are you okay?" he asked.
Labramon looked up at him with a huge smile on her face. "Why? Do you notice something different about me?"
"Yeah, you're talking pretty funny." Sho responded.
Labramon let out a merry giggle, "Don't you mean mature?" she said with a flick of her head. If Sho didn't know any better, it appeared she was trying to flip her non existent hair. "Don't I sound just mature Sho-chan?" the canine blinked her eyes, fluttering them as she attempted to look...that was what Sho wasn't clear on. On one instance she seemed to be trying to be cute, but if Sho didn't know any better, she seemed like she was trying to act seductive. It was jarring that his childlike digimon was trying to do that, but that's what it looked like.
Sho banished those thoughts away. There was no way she was trying to do that, but he figured it was best to humor her. "Yeah sure. You sound mature."
"Yay!" Labramon yipped to the air.
Fairydramon watched this all and smiled to herself. "Well it looks like her lessons are paying off." she said rather pleased with herself.
Sakura picked up on that, and looked down at her digimon. "What are you talking about?" she asked.
Fairydramon beamed up at her human partner and rubbed her claw against her chest. "Oh nothing my girl, I just simply taught our dear Labramon how to speak like a proper digimon."
"Speak proper? You mean you're the reason she's not speaking in the first person anymore?" Sakura asked.
Fairydramon crossed her arms. "You can thank me later."
"I'm not sure if it was right to change Labramon so drastically." Sakura said.
"Oh please. You can't tell me you weren't getting annoyed by that constant "Labramon likes" or "Labramon wants", I did everyone a favor."
Sakura still wasn't too sure about that. Frankly she found Labramon's speech adorable since in her culture, referring to oneself in the first person was a sign of immaturity. Or at least she knew in cartoons it meant the character was cute. But perhaps cartoon tropes didn't apply when given to real life?
"Well if you say so." Sakura muttered.
"I know so." Fairydramon concurred.
Meanwhile, DemiDevimon sat upon Chiisi's shoulder. "We're rather aimless aren't we?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Chiisi asked.
"Well here we are, wandering about, without a clear goal in mind. Kind of aimless don't you think?"
Chiisi didn't nod or confirm his partner's words, but silently he had to agree. Where were they going? What was the end game? The broader goal was to defeat the Fallen Angels and save the Digital World, but how to get there was the bigger question. In any case, they had to keep going it seemed. If anything, they would appear to be a rather rag tag group. But they had accomplished some things. Yet, he felt they could have done more.
Then, all of a sudden, Chiisi felt it. A great disturbance hung in the air, an approaching darkness, growing ever closer. Chiisi looked on ahead, sensing it's presence. It felt familiar.
"Everyone stop talking!" Chiisi ordered.
Everyone stopped what they were doing, and put all of their eyes on Chiisi.
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
Chiisi put a hand to the air as if he were feeling for an invisible string. "Don't you feel it?" he asked.
The other humans didn't seem to know what Chiisi was talking about, but the digimon certainly did. Every one of them grew tense at the utterance of Chiisi's words.
"He's right. Something is amiss." Fairydramon warned.
Labramon tensed up on all fours and growled, "A bad thing is coming."
Suddenly, high up in the sky, there came a familiar sight. There was Blimpmon, but not just any Blimpmon.
"It's SkullMeramon!" Sho shouted.
But that wasn't all, joining him were several other Blimpmon. They floated in the air, all menacing. As they did so, the group were left without a clear goal in mind. Their minds became frozen with fear. Even more so as the Blimpmon sped up. As soon as it loomed overhead, something dropped down from the lead one. There landing firmly on the ground was SkullMeramon.
The Ultimate digimon stood strongly upon the ground, his face turning into a grimace. "Miss me?" he mocked. All of the kids and their digimon stood firm. SkullMeramon merely crossed his arms and continued. "I have to say, finding you all was rather tricky, but you little brats couldn't escape my grasp." The kids were at a loss as to what to do. The last time they had fought this guy, they were all trounced effortlessly. Now here he was again, and he didn't look like he wanted to make peace.
"Look, I'll make things easy, just come along quietly and I won't have to kill you." SkullMeramon offered. Hearing that, the digimon stood out in the front, all of them ready to fight, even Penguinmon. "So you all want to offer yourselves up huh? Well fine, I like it better that way." SkullMeramon declared getting into a defensive stance.
Seeing no other choice, the kids held up their digivices and let the glow go.
"Gazimon digivolve to! Genkimon!"
"Labramon digivolve to! Siesamon!"
"Penguinmon digivolve to! Thunderbirdmon!"
"Fairydramon digivolve to! Tiamon!"
"DemiDevimon digivolve to! Devimon!"
The light of digivolution shone forth and soon died away to reveal five Champions.
"This again huh? Well come on. Let's play!" dared SkullMeramon.
The five digimon were ready to fight. But Devimon took the first move.
"Touch of Evil!" he cried outstretching his right claw, brimming with dark energy.
As soon as Devimon lunged with the attack, SkullMeramon dodged it. And when he did, he grabbed hold of Devimon's arm.
"You know? You leave yourself wide open with that attack." sneered SkullMeramon. Then taking the arm, he twisted it around and gave Devimon a swift kick to the back.
The force sent the devil flying, skidding across the ground until he devolved back into DemiDevimon. As soon as he did, a Guardromon flew down from one of the many Blimpmon and accosted the bat.
Suddenly, SkullMeramon was hit by a blast of fire and light as Siesamon and Tiamon launched their attacks. The combination of the attacks swirled around and did their best to damage the Ultimate. But with a swipe of his arm, the attack dissipated. Then with a thrust of his arms, he launched twin chains around the necks of the two Champions. Grabbing hold of them, he pulled down on them. Tiamon fell from the air landing with a thud, and Siesamon skid across the ground, doing her best to pull off the chains.
"You girls are all right you know that? But let me show you my love!" SkullMeramon shouted. From the attack, a surge of flames shot forward, spreading over to two females. The pain was unbearable and in that instant, they devolved back into their Rookie forms.
Using his chains, SkullMeramon continued to drag the two Rookies until some Guardromon accosted them.
"Let them go!" Thunderbirdmon shouted.
Flapping his wings, he summoned up a thunderstorm and sent the bolts flying towards him. The lightning solidified into one giant bolt, heading straight for SkullMeramon. SkullMeramon looked up and opened his mouth. From it came a burst of flame which collided with the lightning. The two forces collided for a moment before at last the flame one out. It flew upward until it struck Thunderbirdmon. The flames coursed through his body until at last, he fell down flat upon the ground and devolved. Just like before, a Guardromon was there to meet him.
"Don't worry guys! The awesome train is here to save the day!" Genkimon's voice called out. "Genki Rush!" coating himself in the energy, Genkimon dove forward.
SkullMeramon held out both his arms and let the Champion ram against his palms. The two opponents were even, neither side overtaking the other. It made sense considering Virus types held an advantage against Data types. SkullMeramon could feel himself skidding backwards. But there was still the matter of level, and SkullMeramon was higher. And with that higher level, he was able to do the final push. With a mighty thrust, he shoved Genkimon forward, landing him upon his back as he did
"Genkimon!" Kazuya shouted.
The force of the attack had caused Genkimon to devolve back into Gazimon, and Kazuya rushed to his side as he did.
SkullMeramon cracked his neck, "Man I'm getting bored. Time to finish this!" the fiery digimon declared. Suddenly, his body began to be coated in flames, and from that flame it spread. "Heavy Metal Fire!" SkullMeramon shouted as he shot the flames forth. They spewed forth, and surrounded Kazuya and Gazimon before they could act.
"Kazuya!" Sakura screamed.
But it was too no avail. For the flames subsided, and in that moment, Kazuya and Gazimon were both gone.
Dusting his hands off, SkullMeramon remarked, "That was easy. All right round em up!"
The group were left in shock at Kazuya's apparent death. Even Jun was at a loss for words. The Guardromon came, each one taking one of the group, and disappeared up into the Blimpmon. When their task was done, the Blimpmon flew off into the distance.
XXX
"Wake up!"
He heard the voice abruptly as his mind came to. Wit ha slight groan, he got up to his feet, and adjusted his vision.
"My head hurts." Kazuya said as he became adjusted.
"Just a side effect of the spell." the voice answered.
Kazuya snapped to attention, for he instantly recognized the sound of the voice. Looking over, he got his answer.
"Wizardmon!" Indeed it was the mage like digimon, standing over him protectively. "What happened?"
"You were nearly killed, but I whisked the two of you away at the last second." explained Wizardmon.
"Us?" Then it hit Kazuya, "Wait? Where's Gazimon?" he asked.
Just then he heard another groan and there on the opposite side lay Gazimon. Kazuya ran over to the rabbit cat and shook him awake. The digimon opened his eyes and slowly got to his feet, his head feeling like someone had split a line in it.
"Why does my head hurt?" he asked.
"Sorry about that. My spell was performed in a rush, so it caused some negative feedback." explained Wizardmon.
Kazuya rubbed his head. "I'll say." he wondered if this is what people with a hangover experienced?
The goggle headed boy got a good glance at his surroundings, they were in a noticeably different place. The terrain was slightly rocky, with patches of grass scattered here and there. But what was noticeable was the smell in the air.
"Smoke?" Kazuya said, as he sniffed and noticed a plume of smoke some distance away. It was coming out of a stack, several stacks to be precise. The building around the area was a huge circular dome. Several pillars lay situated about, but a smaller dome was nearby, large in size. Kazuya's attention was drifted further towards it as he found several Blimpmon flying nearby. The smaller dome opened up, and the Blimpmon sank down into it before closing entirely. "A hangar?"
Wizardmon nodded. "This is SkullMeramon's base."
"His base? You mean where he operates?" Kazuya said in surprise.
"I think that's what a base generally implies." Gazimon replied.
Kazuya thought back to before, how he had seen the Blimpmon flying by when his friends were… "Wait! Where is everyone!?"
Wizardmon held his head down. "I'm afraid SkullMeramon captured them. I could only save you." Looking ahead, he stared at the base, "More than likely those Blimpmon have just delivered them here."
Kazuya whipped out his digivice and pressed the buttons. Sure enough on the screen, there were four colored blips: yellow, blue, pink, and black.
"That's them all right." Kazuya said to himself. "We have to go rescue them!"
Suddenly, Gazimon slid in front of his partner, paws up in the air in a stopping motion. "Woah there Kazuya! I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"We can't just leave them there!" protested Kazuya.
Taking one of his paws, Gazimon rubbed the back of his head. "You weren't actually fighting him. I actually felt his hits blow for blow, and well, that guy is packing a serious load of power."
"Don't tell me you're scared." Kazuya said in half disgust.
"It's not that!" Gazimon shouted, not wanting anyone to think he was a coward. "It's just that, I don't want to get deleted."
"What about Fairydramon?" hearing that got Gazimon's attention. "You want to just leave her at the hands of that psycho?"
Gazimon considered that very carefully. "Oh man. I just can't leave her. That's bad on a romantic level." Romance was a key factor in all of this. If he left Fairydramon alone with SkullMeramon, that could spell a dire fate for her. And he wouldn't stand for that. After all, he wanted a bright future with her: marriage, kids, the works! And he would fight until he had all that. Besides, rescuing her was the key to obtaining all of that.
"You're right! I will rescue her!" Gazimon suddenly declared.
Kazuya grinned a cocky grin. "That's the spirit!"
"I will win her heart! Even if it kills me!" Gazimon added on.
Then Kazuya face faulted. "And then there's that."
"If you want to rescue your friends, we need to hurry." Wizardmon urged. The mage digimon led them around, heading towards the back. "I've studied this place for weeks, so I have memorized the patterns of the patrols and the layout."
"That's good. That gives us an advantage." noted Kazuya.
And so the trio was off, each with a determined goal in their heads.
XXX
The kids felt the chains grip them closely around themselves. Try as they might, they couldn't break free. Their digimon were in similar conditions. SkullMeramon had prepared for everything.
"Well kiddies, just sit tight, you aren't going anywhere." SkullMeramon mused with a chuckle.
Jun glared hatefully at the digimon, "You know? A smart villain would have just killed us on the spot, not chain us up."
Sho's face turned panicked. "Don't give him ideas!"
Jun looked towards her companion and glared a deadpan look. "What? I'm just saying."
SkullMeramon crossed his arms. "I've thought of that, trust me, but I haven't decided on what I should do just yet. So many possibilities you see." the fiery digimon cupped a hand to his chin, "I mean I had planned on delivering all of you over to the Fallen Angels, but I went and done fried your friend."
"Kazuya's alive!" Sakura suddenly declared.
SkullMeramon looked at her like she was crazy. "Well unless some magic whisked him away, then it's doubtful he's alive missy."
Sakura's face fell, for she knew that was very plausible.
"The boy is more resilient than you think!" Fairydramon spat.
"Oh shut it lizard!" SkullMeramon likewise spat, unless you want be sent packing back to the Village of Beginnings!"
Fairydramon shut her mouth, but kept a hateful glare at the Ultimate digimon.
"Now if you excuse me, I have plans to make." SkullMeramon said with a chuckle as he walked off.
The digimon shifted uncomfortably in their chains. All of them looking forlorn. Well more so defiant in Fairydramon and DemiDevimon's case.
"I'm hungry." Labramon whined.
Penguinmon sniffed, something that alerted Jun. "Are you crying?" she asked.
The bird sniffed again, "No." And again, and soon it became apparent he was fighting back tears.
Letting out a sigh, Jun looked to her partner, "Look. If you want to cry, you can do that. I'm not going to care."
Penguinmon sniffed again, "I'm just trying to be tough."
Jun let out a tiny but not cruel laugh, "Look. You're sensitive, I get it your scared, so if you want to cry, let it out."
Penguinmon sniffed again, and then, he let the tears fall. It wasn't a huge batch of tears, but they flowed down freely. "Thanks Jun."
"No problem." she responded.
"This is surprisingly kind of you." noted Chiisi.
Jun shrugged. "Hey it's probably our last moments, so I figured, why not?"
"Kazuya will save us!" Sakura declared.
"What makes you so sure?" Sho asked. "I mean, no offense, we all saw him get fried.
"I just know in my heart he and Gazimon are still alive." said said hopefully.
And she carried that hope with her as long as she could.
XXX
Kazuya and the others watched the Guardromon guards closely. They had seen the patterns and so far there were only two present at the door.
"We need a way to distract them." said Kazuya.
"That's where I come in." Wizardmon suddenly declared. "Once I distract them, you two head inside alright."
Both Kazuya and Gazimon nodded.
Wizardmon got to his feet and soon walked towards the Guardromon guards. "Hello there!" he called.
The Guardromon were drawn to attention. "Halt! Who goes there!" One of them shouted.
Wizardmon waved out his arms, throwing off a cloud of confetti. "Just a humble magician here to entertain the masses. Certainly all this standing around has made you boys bored and lethargic?"
The two Guardromon looked at one another with uncertainty, but they each nodded their bodies as they realized the magic digimon knew just where to hit. Curious, the pair moved closer, their metallic boots clanking as they did. When they were near Wizardmon, Kazuya and Gazimon made their move. Heading around, they took the opening and head towards the entrance. And soon, they made it inside.
"We made it!" Gazimon said in a half whisper.
"Right." Kazuya whipped out his digivice and began pushing the buttons until the colored blips that were his friends were present. "We just have to find them.
Kazuya followed the pathway the digivice suggested, going through halls until at last they came across an obstacle. They came to a sudden stop as they noticed the Guardromon present.
"Wait stop!" Kazuya rasped.
Coming to a halt, they waited for the Guardromon to make his move, but to their luck, he simple walked down the hall, not bothering to face them.
"Good, he didn't spot us." Gazimon said, hand upon his chest.
Kazuya looked at the digivice again. Sure enough, the blips were coming in the direction where the Guardromon had just walked.
"Looks like we are going to have to head that way." noted Kazuya.
"That way!" But what about the guards! My little Rookie body won't stand up to them." Gazimon said in fear.
"Well, we could always digivolve." Kazuya said, holding up his digivice.
Gazimon grinned a sheepish grin, "Oh yeah...I forgot."
Staring confidently forward, Kazuya held up his digivice and pressed it forward as the light of digivolution shined forth.
"Gazimon! Digivolve to! Genkimon!"
The light died down revealing Gazimon was now in his Champion form. Hopping aboard his digimon's back, Kazuya pointed forward.
"Let's go!" he shouted.
Charging forward, the Champion turned the corner and let out the energy blasts. The Guardromon was taken by surprise. As the mammal digimon dove forward.
"Genki Rush!" Coating himself in energy, Genkimon barred his way through the group going forward and awaiting Kazuya's words.
"Turn left!" Kazuya ordered.
Genkimon did just that. "And then he continued onward, until Kazuya said, "Right!" And then following that, "Straight!" And then lastly, "Okay stop!"
They came to a skidding halt at a doorway, and headed inside.
"Kazuya!" Upon hearing that voice, they knew they were at the right location.
"Sakura!" Kazuya said hopping off of Genkimon. Looking around, he could see his companions chained up.
Genkimon noticed the chains and went towards Fairydramon's. Right away, the Champion bit through the chains, freeing the dragoness.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Fairydramon could notice the concern in his eyes. It was different from the usual lust he held, and frankly, she felt comforted by it.
"Oh yes...I'm fine." she said. "Thank you."
Genkimon nodded and went for the other chains around the kids and digimon.
Jun rubbed her wrists as she was freed, "Heh, what took ya so long?" she asked.
"Well we took our time for you." Kazuya joked.
Jun smiled a friendly smile to the goggle headed kid. Something which Sho noticed.
"Okay...have we stepped into an alternate universe or something?" the boy said in disbelief.
Soon all of the chains were snapped off, freeing the kids and their digimon.
"I never gave up hope you would rescue us." Sakura said hopefully.
Kazuya smiled back at that. "Come on, we should get going."
"Oh I wouldn't be going to far little runts."
Everyone turned around to see a familiar figure in the doorway.
"SkullMeramon!" everyone shouted.
The fiery digimon cracked his knuckles as he noticed Genkimon. "So you got a Champion all ready for me eh? Well I could use some more exercise."
Hey the fight isn't going to go like last time!" Genkimon declared. Opening his maw, he fired out another blast. "Genki Blast!"
The attack struck SkullMeramon, putting up a cloud of smoke. But when the smoke cleared, it showed that SkullMeramon was no worse for wear.
"Was that it?" he asked.
"No! It's not!" Genkimon shouted as he leapt forward.
XXX
The treasure sat silently within it's chamber. SkullMeramon had placed it there since he had recovered it. Silently, it just continued to sit, never moving, but then, it shook.
XXX
"Really!? That's all you got!?" SkullMeramon exclaimed.
With a might kick, SkullMeramon kicked Genkimon away. The Champion fell down, feeling his pain. He didn't bother getting up. He struggled, but couldn't find the strength.
"No! Come on Genkimon! Don't give up!" Kazuya shouted.
With a groan, Genkimon managed to rise to his feet. Then he turned and faced SkullMeramon once again.
"Really? After the thrashing I just gave you, you're still back for more?" SkullMeramon said in confusion.
"Well thrash us all you want. But we aren't giving up!" Kazuya exclaimed.
SkullMeramon let out a wicked laugh. "Kid. You're outgunned and out of luck. There's no way you can win this."
"Well that may be true, but the one thing me and Genkimon know is that we aren't afraid of you! And we won't back down!" Kazuya declared.
It was the one thing that he and his digimon shared. It was their tenacity.
XXX
The treasure continued to stir, shaking all the more furiously. As it did, it glowed a bright red.
XXX
"I admit you have tenacity? But you're still going to die." SkullMeramon exclaimed.
Kazuya placed a hand to his chest, "Well at least we're going to die trying!"
Genkimon kept his paws firmly on the ground, body lowering into a defensive stance. SkullMeramon took a step forward, and that's when it happened.
XXX
The treasure had had enough, and it broke free of it's constraints. It broke it's way through everything, going through walls and rooms before it landed right in front of Genkimon. Everyone present stopped and gazed at the object. Slowly, the object floated it's way towards Kazuya.
"Child. Thou has shown the trait of Tenacity." came a voice.
Within the sphere, a symbol of a tflame within a circle appeared, and then in a flash of red light, it vanished into Kazuya's chest. As soon as it did, Kazuya's digivice began to go haywire, beeping and flashing.
"My strength, I can feel it rising." Genkimon said to himself.
And that strength continued to rise. For the same glow overtook Genkimon and he felt the urge to say one thing.
"Genkimon! Super digivolve to! KnightGenkimon!"
A/N: Okay. I've changed some things in this chapter a bit to better reflect the change I am making to the storyline.