There's No Rest for the Wicked
Disclaimer: Digimon's not mine, this laptop is mine, the cat is my husband's, the kid is half mine, the blue car is mine, the fruit bowl is my mother-in-law's…*four hours later*…the muses are mine, and finally, my sanity is…well, not really here to be determined.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews, Wynter Daye! :) I know our come-back party here is a little small, but glad to have readers like you join us and enjoy the ride. It's the kind of thing that keeps me going with this story. (G: And away from playing Animal Crossing instead!) *punches muse out the window*
Chapter 14 - Ties that Bind
In the next cell over from Davis', Cody pulled out a flashlight from the small backpack he'd taken with him. Shining it around to have a look at where he landed, the brown-haired teenager was met with nothing but black stone above, below, and surrounding them. He could faintly make out the trap door they had fallen through, but it was quite a few meters up. Beside him, the blond teenager groaned and slowly tried to get into a sitting position.
"T. K., you all right?" Cody turned the flashlight on him, suddenly remembering his friend's recent injuries. "Anything feel broken? I should have some bandages in the first aid kit I brought…" With that, he started digging into his pack once more.
T. K. scooted himself to the nearest wall and surprisingly started to chuckle.
Cody stopped and gave him a quizzical look. "What's so funny?" There was definitely nothing for him to be amused about in their situation. After all, they were trapped, their digimon were fighting without them, and there was a possibility that he was seriously hurt after all that.
"Oh nothing really," T. K. finally stopped to answer. "Just that it's no wonder you got the DigiEgg of Reliability. You're as over-prepared as Joe sometimes."
"Humph," Cody grunted. "Well, excuse me for thinking ahead about us traveling underground and you still having injuries."
Meanwhile, in the last cell, Yolei was also looking around using a lighter she had leftover from chemistry class that day. Between it and the glow of Kari's D-terminal, they were able to see the same things Cody had about their cell.
"It doesn't look like there's any way out," Yolei observed and sighed. "The Emperor really got us this time, didn't he?" She put her back against the round wall and slid down to the ground.
"I'm sure we'll figure something out. We always do," Kari comforted as she sat down next to the other teenage girl.
There was a long stretch of silence between them. While Kari looked over at her friend, Yolei simply stared into the flame of the lighter. She was clearly trying to avoid any conversation.
The Digidestined of Light finally took a deep breath and broke the ice. "Yolei, this isn't like you to be so quiet. Tell me what's really the matter." It wasn't a question.
After a pause, and without looking up, Yolei mumbled, "It's like you said earlier. I'm just upset about Ken, that's all."
Kari studied the other girl's face before saying, "It's about Angewomon digivolving, isn't it?"
Following Cody's retort, there was also a long pause between the teenage boys. Finally T. K. brought up casually, "You know, we never did finish our conversation earlier." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I know something's bothering you. What is it?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it," Cody said a little more hastily than he expected.
After staring at the younger teenager's flashlit face, T. K. asked, "Is it about MagnaAngemon digivolving?"
The Digimon Emperor had been furious when he saw that light shoot out from Motomiya's D-3. Out of the corner of his eye, he had also seen brief flashes of multicolored lights come from the other two cells over his monitors.
"ExVeemon digivolve to… AeroVeedramon!"
"Aquilamon…"
"Gatomon…"
"DNA-digivolve to… Silphymon!"
"Ankylomon…"
"Angemon…"
"DNA-digivolve to… Shakkoumon!"
He pounded a fist into his console. That blasted Izzy! And they weren't anywhere near their partners. Whatever the real brains of their pitiful group had given them, it was powerful.
The Emperor began to furiously type away at his keyboard. He wasn't going to bother wasting his time on torturing them. Seeing that insolent goggle-head fret in his cell was enough for him. He had to get to the bottom of this digivolving-in-the-presence-of-his-Control-Towers business.
He watched as the new enemy digimon launched their attacks. He hated to admit it, but he needed to call in his reserves. As he turned a knob to open his latest pets' cells, something on the second level of his former base caught his attention.
All screens were turned to feeds of the hallway of that level. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."
A tall, red-headed young man and a slightly older-looking man in a white robe ran around his endless hallway. They were trailed by a red and grey insect digimon. He had redesigned that area so that the Digidestined would have no choice but to go down into the arena. It led neither up, nor down, so the only ways out would be into the large, circular room or back out the way they came.
The Digimon Emperor's indigo eyes widened at something else he noticed—a glowing blue sphere in the younger one's hands. "A DigiCore? How nice of them to bring me a present." He let out a maniacal laugh that resonated off the empty control room's walls. If he could get ahold of that, he would have enough power to destroy the Digidestined once and for all.
"Now that's more like it!" AeroVeedramon took to the air in the crumbling arena. "V-Wing Blade!" The flying V-shaped beam of energy shot across the digimon below, shattering Dark Bands wherever it hit.
"Static Force!"
"Justice Beam!"
Both Silphymon's and Shakkoumon's attacks were aimed at the bands on each Triceramon. The two dinosaur digimon's eyes returned to normal and looked at their surroundings.
It wasn't long before the rest of the Emperor's army was rid of their Dark Bands. Silphymon took it upon himself to explain to the dozens of confused digimon how they had been controlled but were free now. Shakkoumon was about to lead them out to safety when two giant panels slid open, one at the ground level of the room, the other high above them.
The ground beneath them began to tremble as something gigantic stomped out of the bottom door. From the shadows within emerged a creature that looked like a dark centaur with wings. Black armor covered its upper torso and two long, bull-like horns came from its barely humanoid head. A Dark Band was wrapped around one of its cloven legs.
At the same time, an orange and brown streak shot from the upper door. Its piercing screech deafened everyone in the room. They finally got a good look at the second new digimon when it alighted on one of the upper platforms. It had a striped lion's body with the head, forelegs, and wings of an eagle. A snake's head grinned from the end of its tail.
"Gulfmon and Gryphonmon," gasped Silphymon. "Two mega-level digimon. How did the Emperor manage to capture them?"
"Solo Roar!" Waves of supersonic energy were aimed at the trio of ultimates from the mythical beast digimon.
At the same time, a large mouth emerged from the black fur of Gulfmon's torso. "Black Requiem!" A beam of dark energy focused on the same spot.
Everyone in the line of the two attacks scattered. The wall behind where they once hovered was completely obliterated, including meters of earth outside the former base.
To Shakkoumon's shock, the blast revealed two humans and a digimon standing in a hallway close to where the attacks ripped through. "Izzy, Tentomon! And… Gennai?!"
Silphymon wasted no time retrieving his comrades before Gulfmon fired another blast straight at the humans and their companion. A giant pocket in the wall was all that remained of where they had stood.
"What are you guys doing here?" AeroVeedramon asked as he flew up and fired a V-Wing Blade to distract the centaur-like digimon.
Silphymon let his friends down on a safe part of the arena floor. Izzy's shaking legs gave way underneath him and he collapsed to his knees, still clutching a glowing orb to his abdomen. Gennai seemed to be recovering better from the close call.
"We're here to deliver a present," he calmly stated.
Tentomon piped up, "Sorry we forgot the cake and ice cream. We didn't think the party was going to be this huge."
In the meantime, Gryphonmon had swooped over and knocked AeroVeedramon in the back with his armored head. The turquoise digimon tumbled down to the ground.
"Black Requiem!" Gulfmon shot his beam towards AeroVeedramon.
"Kachina Bombs!" Shakkoumon shot out clay disks to intercept the attack. The projectiles took the brunt of it, but there was still enough force left in the beam to knock AeroVeedramon against the far wall.
All Izzy could do was gape at the powerful digimon he was in the presence of. His rookie-level partner had to shake his shoulders to get him to snap out of it. "Izzy, we can't stay here. We've got to find the others."
"I can help with that," declared Silphymon. "Static Force!" The Beast Man digimon fired at a spot in the ground not far from them. When the smoke cleared, a hole leading to a shaft below was revealed. "The Emperor sent them down there. You gotta hurry. We'll cover for you." With that, Silphymon took to the air, his sights set on Gryphonmon.
Gennai helped Izzy get up on his weak legs. "You heard him, we got to move!"
As if for emphasis, a chunk of the crumbling wall near them fell onto the lower half of one of the freed Triceramon. The other Triceramon, along with a handful of digimon nearby tried to push the rubble off of him.
"Actually, you guys go find the other Digidestined. I'll stay and get these digimon to safety." With that, the brown-haired man gave Izzy one last shove towards the hole in the ground and ran in the opposite direction.
Slowly regaining his wits, Izzy did as he was told. He stopped to give one last gulp as he stared down into the dark shaft. "Ready, Tentomon?"
"Don't I always have to be?" was the last that Izzy heard before he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and jumped in.
Yolei gave a quizzical look at her now magenta and white D-3, which had shot a red beam of light towards the ceiling and faded shortly thereafter. "What the…?" Somehow they must have made their digimon DNA-digivolve. 'But how could that have happened with me feeling like this, trying to block Kari from my thoughts? What's the point in us being partners like this anymore?' She turned to the teenage girl whom she admired and who seemed to have all the answers. "How did we…?"
As Kari looked up from her own morphed D-3, she explained, "Ever since we became DNA-digivolving partners, whenever we think the same thing, our partners are able to combine. Not only that, but we can feel each other's feelings. All I had to do was…"
"…figure out what you were thinking about, Cody, and I could feel your pain."
The younger teenager looked down at the floor guiltily.
Yolei sank her head further between her knees. "I admit, now that your digimon can go mega, I feel totally useless. Mine can only go to the champion level on our own, so when it comes to going up against the Emperor, I'm a waste of space."
Cody sighed and confessed, "I feel left out. First Davis and Kari could push their digimon to the next level, and now you can too. That made me feel worse." He returned the inverted yellow and white D-3 to his pocket and kneeled down next to his friend. "I've never told anyone this, but I've always felt like the outcast of the group. I'm the youngest out of all of us; I'm not even going to the same school as the rest of you."
Kari gently took Yolei's hand in her own and made eye contact with the glass-wearing girl. "You know, ever since the Eighth Child incident, I've learned that everything happens for a reason. When Wizardmon died, it hurt because I was powerless to stop it." Kari's own amber eyes shimmered at the memory. "But it also caused Gatomon to digivolve to Angewomon. There's got to be a reason why Aquilamon hasn't gone any farther yet. You should let destiny take its course and see what happens."
The lavender-haired girl smiled at her best friend, tears begging to be let out from the corners of her scarlet eyes as well.
The softly glowing lighter held between them, Kari helped Yolei up to her feet before continuing, "Every bit of help we can get counts. As long as you're my partner, you'll never be useless."
T. K. reached an arm out and gave Cody a surprisingly strong clap on the back. "What kind of talk is that? Heck, you've already helped save the world alongside the rest of us. So what if you're the youngest? When I first went to the Digital World with the others, I was in the same position. But I eventually learned that I played as important a part as everyone else."
Cody couldn't help but return T. K.'s bright smile at him.
"Even though everything around us is changing, our bond as DNA-digivolving partners will never change. You'll always be a part of our team. Together, we'll get out of this and save the Digital World once again."
Droplets of sweat that had beaded on the Digimon Emperor's pallid face broke free of their confines and trickled down the side of his head. He wasn't going to finish his program in time.
The young dictator watched as Hida gripped Takaishi in a firm hand shake to solidify their bond in yet another nauseous display of camaraderie. Suddenly a bright light flooded that screen, along with the one that showed the girls' cell. The last he'd seen of the female Digidestined, they were holding hands like a pair of sorority bimbos.
The Emperor shot up out of his chair. "What? No, it can't be!"
Izzy hadn't gone far down the treacherous slide before a wave of white light shot up towards him and then passed over like a spring breeze. He didn't have time to look up at where it was headed before the slide sank out from underneath him, and he and Tentomon, who was clinging to his head, fell down hard into an empty room.
The white light from below engulfed both Silphymon and Shakkoumon. They could feel the power of their partners' bond flowing through them, making them stronger.
"Silphymon mega digivolve to… Valkyrimon!"
"Shakkoumon mega digivolve to… GuardiAngemon!"
Everyone present stopped what they were doing to stare at the two humanoid digimon. One was covered from head to toe in white feathers. On her feet were a pair of winged slippers laced up to her knees, and on her wrist, she carried a golden falcon. The other digimon was covered in steel armor with sharp, metal wings. For arms, he had two deadly blue and silver blades trimmed with gold.
For once, Gennai was speechless. Luckily for him, AeroVeedramon was quick to voice what was on everyone's minds. "Wow, how'd you guys do that? You look awesome!"
It wasn't long before a familiar voice boomed from unseen speakers around the room. "So you think this little parlor trick will save you?" The Digimon Emperor vehemently sneered. "Gulfmon, Gryphonmon! Take them out, one by one."
"Huh, don't want to show your ugly mug this time?" AeroVeedramon taunted. "Bet you're shaking in your boots now!"
"STARTING WITH THAT ONE!" the Emperor exploded. The turquoise digimon could almost feel their enemy pointing at him with a giant finger. Or was it Gulfmon's attack headed straight for him…?
"Look out, you fool!" called Valkyrimon. "Laser Javelin!" Wasting no time, she had launched a summoned projectile and neutralized Gulfmon's Black Requiem mere meters from AeroVeedramon. The force of the resultant detonation sent the dragon digimon tumbling backwards.
"Legendary Claw!" Gryphonmon shot towards AeroVeedramon, right talon outstretched and ready for a mortal slash.
GuardiAngemon crossed his twin blades in front of him and swept them outward, creating a blue X of energy that shot towards the chimeric digimon. "Holy Sword!" Gryphonmon was forced to veer upward in order to avoid the powerful blast that cut him off from his prey.
"Don't let up on your target!" the Emperor yelled. "That infernal digimon's as much of a thorn in my side as his partner. And I want both of them to pay dearly." There was so much venom in the dictator's last statement, they were expecting it to drip through the walls.
A sudden chill climbed up AeroVeedramon's spine. "Sounds like I'm not getting invited to his next party." He had to dive down to the ground in order to avoid yet another blast from Gulfmon.
Valkyrimon and GuardiAngemon regrouped with their friend on the arena floor. "AeroVeedramon, maybe you should get out of here with the others," the metal angel digimon offered.
"Yeah, we can't fight them and babysit you at the same time." Leave it to Valkyrimon to let the Gatomon half shine through.
Their little huddle wasn't going to last long though. "Battle Tactic Delta, now!"
"Dead Scream!"
"Solo Roar!"
Gulfmon let out a deafening shriek, bringing all three grouped-up digimon to their knees, at the same time that Gryphonmon launched his supersonic waves, weakening their data structures and causing tremendous pain throughout their bodies. The combined attacks forced AeroVeedramon to de-digivolve back to DemiVeemon.
Struggling back to her feet, Valkyrimon tucked the small blue digimon under one arm. "GuardiAngemon, cover me!" With that, she sped over to where Gennai and the last of the freed digimon were making their escape.
"Will do! Golden Ripper!" The holy digimon charged his two opponents in a blaze of dancing gold, blue and silver blades.
Gulfmon cried out in pain as two slashes hit his torso, but Gryphonmon was able to dodge the slices aimed at him.
In the meantime, Valkyrimon handed her half-conscious friend over to Gennai. "Get him out with the others. We'll regroup later." She looked over at the makeshift stairway the digimon had made out of the rubble from the arena. This took them up to the second level where Gennai would be able to lead them out via the tunnel Digmon had previously made for them.
As she helped carry the last few digimon up to safety, the Emperor's voice rang out once more. "Battle Tactic Lambda!" Soon enough, GuardiAngemon was pinned up against the far wall by Gryphonmon.
"Boy, is he loud…" DemiVeemon mumbled as Gennai retreated with the others. "Why won't he shut up…?"
A thought suddenly struck Valkyrimon. "DemiVeemon, remind me to kiss you later." She extended her right arm towards the center of the room. "Flare, do your thing!" The golden falcon on her arm took off in an instant. Once it reached the middle of the arena, a bright, golden light filled the room, blinding everyone present.
The two teenage girls could have sworn they heard blasts being fired and walls crashing. Maybe their digimon were taking the battle down to them. They ran to the side of the room opposite the sounds just in case.
No sooner had they turned around when the far wall shone with a yellow light and exploded. Both Digidestined were forced to cough at all the dust coming from the new hole in their cell.
"T. K., Kari, anyone, are you there?"
Two pairs of eyes lit up. "Izzy!" Yolei and Kari exclaimed, running over as a dark insect digimon climbed through the giant hole. The red-headed teenager in question followed shortly after. It was a good thing he managed to find solid ground before the two girls nearly bowled him over in relief.
"What's going on up there?"
"How did you find us?" Izzy was bombarded with questions from them, one after the other.
"Whoa, whoa, take it easy," he tried to calm them down and pried them off. "Your digimon need your help, but we need to find the others too."
"Better stand back, guys," Kabuterimon warned, taking aim at the wall where the girls once stood. "Electro Shocker!"
"Valkyrimon, what the—?" started GuardiAngemon.
"Aurvandil's Arrow!" The warrior digimon fired an arrow of light with pinpoint accuracy at Gryphonmon, despite not being able to see. This knocked the mythical beast digimon away from her ally. In a heartbeat, she charged the same opponent with the weapon she'd drawn from her side. "Feral Sword!"
Gryphonmon managed to put up his claws just in time to block the attack, but this was merely a detaining maneuver.
"Now, GuardiAngemon! Towards my voice!"
Her fighting partner did his best to aim where he was told. "Holy Sword!"
Valkyrimon disengaged just before the attack hit Gryphonmon full-on, sending him plummeting to the ground.
Shortly after, Flare's light faded, and the little falcon returned to its master. Valkyrimon took this opportunity to give an explanation. "Normally the Digimon Emperor can control his digimon telepathically, but right now he's too far away to do that. So he has to rely on voice commands and visual feeds to fight us."
"So when you blinded us, he couldn't see what was going on either, giving us an opportunity to defeat one of them," GuardiAngemon finished.
A voice filled with malice echoed across the room. "Well, give Polly a cracker. But it will do you no good. Gryphonmon, get up and execute Battle Tactic Sigma!"
"I don't think so! Punishing Storm!" Valkyrimon summoned a tornado that swept up the mythical beast digimon before it could move, containing it.
"Holy Sword!" GuardiAngemon fired his cross-shaped beam at Gryphonmon's Dark Band, which was destroyed in the process.
Valkyrimon eased up her attack, and the weakened mega-level digimon reverted back to an unconscious Falcomon.
"Whoa, that was intense… Who are you guys?" came a female voice from the ground below. The humanoid digimon diverted their attention to three teenagers below them and a Kabuterimon that was disappearing back down the hole in the ground.
"Yolei, you're all right!" Valkyrimon cried in relief. She touched down lightly next to the group of Digidestined.
Somehow, the lavender-haired girl knew as soon as the warrior digimon kneeled down to be closer to her level. "Silphymon's…mega?"
The digimon in question nodded. "I'm Valkyrimon now. It's all thanks to you guys." Yolei leapt up to give their new digimon a hug around her neck.
Meanwhile, the guardian angel digimon landed beside T. K. and Cody.
Since the brown-haired boy was too awe-stricken to say anything, T. K. did the talking for him. "So you must've been Shakkoumon."
"In the metal, but you can call me GuardiAngemon. I'd give you a hug, but…" He made a shrugging motion with his blades for arms.
The two teenage boys laughed. "Don't worry, I'll give you one once you're back to Patamon," said T. K.
"And once you de-digivolve back to Armadillomon," chimed in Cody.
Their moment together didn't last long, however. "Ugh, Gulfmon, destroy them before I hurl," ordered the Digimon Emperor.
Shortly after, the centaur-like digimon fired up an attack. "Black Requiem!"
GuardiAngemon crossed his twin blades and shielded the group from the attack. "Valkyrimon, get them to safety!"
The feathered digimon didn't have to be told twice. Scooping up all three Digidestined, she flew towards the nearest platform above them. No sooner had she put them down when the insect digimon re-emerged with the rest of the teenagers in tow.
"Hey, uh, are you sure this is the right battle?" the one wearing goggles asked, looking around with astonished eyes.
"Kabuterimon, get out of there!" GuardiAngemon warned.
It wasn't long before the newcomers, especially one empty-handed red-head, caught the Digimon Emperor's eye. "They used the DigiCore!" the young tyrant snarled. "Gulfmon, make them pay dearly!"
The demon digimon immediately let out a piercing shriek. "Dead Scream!"
GuardiAngemon was brought to his knees, while Kabuterimon and his group fell the two meters they had been hovering over the ground at the onset of the attack.
"No!" Yolei cried, clinging to the edge of the platform as she watched.
She was soon joined by T. K. "Kari!" he screamed.
The three teenagers landed in a heap together, their hands covering their ears, and Izzy's partner digimon was forced to de-digivolve back to Tentomon not far from them.
Valkyrimon swooped down in an attempt to rescue the remainder of the Digidestined. Before she could reach them, though, Gulfmon's long, three-pronged claw suddenly appeared and knocked her across the room, where she skidded to a halt on the ground. The other claw was poised above his head for a mere second before crashing down on the humans.
"Kari, look out!" Davis grabbed the brunette girl by the waist and pitched the both of them as far to the side as his shaky legs would let him.
Izzy, in the meantime, rolled away in the opposite direction from the others, making it out in barely as much time as Davis and Kari did. Weak as his legs still were, he grabbed Tentomon and fled from the others as fast as he could.
Gulfmon raised his claw in the red-headed teenager's direction, ready to strike once more when he spied a blue and silver blade rushing towards his head. Instead, he used that claw to deflect GuardiAngemon's attack and swiped his other to counter attack. It was likewise blocked with the angel digimon's left blade.
Davis helped Kari scramble to her feet and then led her by the arm away from the scene of the battle. A sharp pain came from his right leg with each step he took, but he grit his teeth and kept running. Kari's life was far more important to him than a measly scratch.
All Davis could think about was running, running as far away as he could get them. Soon though, he noticed his feet stopped hitting the ground, and they were rushing across the room faster than they had been before. He just now realized he and Kari had been swept up by a feather-covered digimon he didn't recognize.
Valkyrimon took only a second to introduce herself as she deposited the pair on a platform across from and below that of their friends. She determined it was sufficiently high enough to be safe and flew back to assist GuardiAngemon.
For a moment, Davis and Kari just stared at the battle going on before them, between the Emperor's last puppet and their newly evolved partners. The silence between them was broken when Kari gasped, "Davis, your leg!"
The chocolate-haired teenager finally took the time to find the source of the pain that was nagging at him earlier—and saw a large gash running down his calf.
"Oh, no, it must have gotten cut when we were getting away from that controlled digimon," the brunette girl moaned worriedly, taking off her pink, fingerless gloves. She tore them in half lengthwise and began bandaging up his leg.
"Does it seem broken? It looks like it really hurts. How do you feel, Davis? Davis?" When he didn't respond, she looked up from her work to see his jaw hanging open and his eyes gawking at her. Kari could have sworn she saw hearts in each of the boy's pupils. The Digidestined of Light merely sweatdropped and resumed her work.
Gulfmon launched another Dead Scream that paralyzed GuardiAngemon long enough for him to swat the angel digimon away. He took this opportunity to aim a black blast at the human desperately trying to get away from him.
"Black Requiem!"
The attack was halfway to its target when Valkyrimon appeared and sliced it into two diverging beams with her Feral Sword. Quicker than it took the two blasts to hit the far walls, she summoned a long projectile and took aim. "Laser Javelin!"
Gulfmon didn't have time to get away as the counterattack exploded on impact with his torso.
"Time to end this, GuardiAngemon!" Valkyrimon yelled. "Punishing Storm!"
Her fighting partner nodded in understanding. While Gulfmon struggled to break free of Valkyrimon's summoned tornado, he went to work with his finishing move. "Heaven's Ripper!" GuardiAngemon's blades danced all over their enemy, leaving deep cuts wherever they landed. The demon beast digimon began to glow as his body weakened.
"This is it! Aurvandil's Arrow!" Valkyrimon's shot shattered the Dark Band on Gulfmon's leg. Soon enough, the hulking, mega-level digimon was reduced to an unconscious creature that looked like a purple version of Patamon.
A low growl emanated from the walls of the devastated room. "Don't think that this is over, Digidestined! The Digital World will be mine, and you won't be able to stop me…since you'll be blown to pieces!" The Digimon Emperor's maniacal cackle was soon drowned out by the sounds of explosions coming from the bottom of the abandoned base and making their way upwards.
Valkyrimon wasted no time collecting the human and rookie-level digimon on the ground floor. "Flare, find us a way out," she commanded, releasing the golden falcon up to the ceiling. She then made her way over to Davis and Kari, while GuardiAngemon had Yolei, T. K., and Cody hang onto his legs and torso. It was a wonder they didn't cut themselves on his sharp wings and blades.
In the meantime, Flare had bored a tunnel in the ceiling that led past floors of the Emperor's base straight up to the surface. The two mega-level digimon made it out with their passengers just in time for the remainder of the base to explode and break off from the cliffside. The smoldering hunk of metal and earth fell into the bottomless gorge, never to be seen again.
The pack of Digidestined and their digimon landed a safe distance away in the barren area covered with Control Towers. No sooner had they touched down when the pair of megas glowed and reverted to their separate forms.
Yolei squeezed the pink fuzzball that was her partner digimon. "Poromon, you guys were awesome!"
"You too, Salamon!" Kari laughed as the puppy-like digimon jumped into her arms.
"Tokomon!" T. K. cried, happy to see his pudgy partner.
"I guess I can give you that hug now, huh?" Tokomon smiled and bounced into the blond's arms.
Likewise, Cody knelt down and embraced Upamon.
"Waitaminute…" Davis trailed off, his face turning pale. "ExVeemon wasn't… Did he somehow…?"
"Davis!" A chirpy voice behind them made the group jump.
This was followed by a familiar chuckle. "Relax, he's right here." They all turned around to face a robed man who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"Gennai?!" everyone but Izzy exclaimed.
"Something borrowed, something blue; well, in this case, he's both," Gennai joked, as DemiVeemon ran ahead of him into his partner's open arms.
Still clutching Tentomon, Izzy turned to their old friend. "Looks like you brought that DigiCore just in time."
"Wait, you had a DigiCore?" Kari and the others looked incredulously from Izzy to Gennai, one after another.
The brown-haired man nodded. "Azulongmon is rarely wrong when he chooses to give those out. But it wasn't the DigiCore alone that pushed you guys to the next stage of digivolution; tapping into the power of the DigiEggs activated it." His face suddenly became solemn as he delivered his warning, "However, don't let your guard down. I can sense that a greater danger lies ahead of you."
"A greater danger…?" Cody repeated.
"I'd say being trapped and pitted against a couple of megas was danger enough," Yolei whined.
Gennai knelt down and picked up the grey bird digimon and the purple flying digimon that Valkyrimon had rescued. "I'll take care of Falcomon and Tsukaimon. You guys better go home and get some rest."
The sound of rocks crashing in the distance caught the attention of the Digidestined. They soon realized it was just more of the cliff wall crumbling off into the gorge.
"Hey Gennai, any idea where the Emperor's new base might be?" T. K. asked, still staring off. When he didn't get a response, he turned back to face him, but the young man was gone without a trace.
The sun was starting to hang low in the sky as the Digidestined trudged out of the desert into a forest.
"Finally, an area that I know has a T. V.!" Yolei said exasperatedly.
"Sorry we were too weak to give you guys a ride," Tokomon apologized from T. K.'s shoulder.
The Digidestined of Hope reached up to give his partner a pat. "It's fine. You guys did a great job today! And it wasn't that bad of a walk."
"Easy for you to say," Davis grumbled. His injured leg dragged behind him.
"Aw, come on, Davis, what's with the sour attitude?" Kari teased.
Yolei joined in with "Yeah, you'd think you were having a bad day or something."
Davis pouted. "Well, now that you mention it, it has been a lousy day. That whole trap made me feel useless, and I only have an ultimate-level digimon to fight with now that Ken's gone—no offense, DemiVeemon…"
"Humph!" The blue digimon in question turned his head up and away from his partner.
"…while you guys can DNA-digivolve your partners to mega. I just feel so left out," Davis concluded.
All of a sudden, everyone began to talk to him at once.
"Come on, Davis, you shouldn't feel left out," said Cody.
"Everything has a reason. You should let destiny take its course," added Yolei.
"After all, your partner can reach the same level as ours…" started T. K.
"…well, if Ken were here, that is," Kari finished.
All the chatter made Davis' head spin. He closed his eyes and covered his ears with both hands. Davis was getting such a headache.
The Digimon Emperor felt a headache suddenly come on. But he couldn't let a little nuisance like that stop him. He had to finish up his program to block their dampening field.
He worked away at his code while running a scan of the Digital World for more mega-level digimon. Negative was the answer that soon came. That was impossible; he knew there had to be some out there somewhere. Either they had been trapped with the presence of his Control Towers like the Harmonious Ones, or they were getting better at hiding their power levels.
No matter. He pulled up another screen showing a spotless lab at the bottom of his new fortress. In the middle of the room were the frozen remnants of Machinedramon. Next to them was a clear tank containing a half-formed digimon.
It was a good thing he had created secret back ups of the data composing Chimeramon before he went goody-two-shoes. When he had become plain old Ken, he had forgotten a lot of his knowledge as the Digimon Emperor. Now it was all coming back to him like how to ride a bicycle—from the inner-workings of his former Control Spires to the location of the spare base containing all his previous work that he had kept hidden until his return.
Oh yes, he had been no fool. He knew one day that all this would come in handy. But when his dark side had been defeated, he had to protect it with selective amnesia. It wasn't until they had merged into a perfect being like himself with a lust for conquering the Digital World that all the barriers were lifted in his mind.
He even knew it was the Dark Spore that had given him the inspiration to create Chimeramon. It was also the Dark Spore that was helping him create this new digimon, but he didn't care where the idea came from, so long as it helped him realize his dream from long ago: to rule the Digital World.
The years had taken their toll on his precious data, though. Some parts of Chimeramon he would have to reacquire from the various original digimon. That wouldn't be an issue; he was sure he would encounter them all in due time in the battles ahead.
A screen up above showing the Digidestined making it home safe and sound made him frown. His failure today would be his last. He was through playing around with his "friends." From now on, he was pulling out all the stops.
The last to go through the T. V. was Yolei Inoue. She had stopped to look around for some unknown reason. At one point she look straight at his screen, almost as if she could see him.
"Yolei…" The young despot unwittingly raised a hand to touch the digital image of her cheek. He didn't know what he had been thinking, risking her life back there when he detonated the former base. Had he become so blind with this desire for world domination that he forgot why he was here, like this?
A sharp jolt came from the back of his neck. No, he hadn't been risking her life—that was merely a test to prove she was worthy of a superior being such as himself. If she couldn't escape from something like that, she was not fit to become his future Empress. It was all so clear.
Now all he had to do was make her realize that she was on the losing side of this war and she should leave that wretched Motomiya. Then he would finish that Goggle Brain off once and for all. Revenge would be his, and it would be so sweet. He began to cackle in spite of himself. They had no idea what was in store for them.
Gaia: *falling into a hallway made of black metal plates* Ugh, remind me to think of a softer spot to land in, G. …G? *looks around* Oh right, she has to stay behind on Level 1 to maintain the dream. I hope Level 2 is deep enough to plant this thought. I don't have enough muses to keep going down into more levels. *brushes self off* Now to go find Ken~!