So the good news is that I managed to bust out a really long chapter for everyone, so hopefully it was worth the wait. If memory serves me right, this has easily been the longest chapter of the story (but I could be wrong). I'll talk a little more after the story if you feel like hearing my excuse this time (I promise it's a legitimate one), so please read the chapter and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon ('depressed sigh')
The Digidestined silently watched as the portal opened and Daemon's dark figure began to form. Each of their partners had digivolved to their most powerful forms and stood at the children's side. The only member of their group missing was Izzy, who was watching the progress on his computer screen, praying that this would work.
"Guys, whatever happens, we have to keep Daemon away from Izzy" Tai told the rest of the group. "If anything happens to that computer while it is still working then it's all over. And watch each other's backs. It might be the only way we'll get out of this in one piece".
Tai took a moment to look behind him and see the small army he had gathered behind him. Easily the largest of them was Garudamon, Biyomon's ultimate form. The giant, bird Digimon had large, yellow talons on her feet and hands that looked like they could shred through anything. The rest of her body was covered in reddish-brown feathers that did little to cover the Digimon's muscular physique, and she had two large wings protruding from her back. The wings were accented with yellow feathers at the end.
Next to her stood Zudomon, who looked just as intimidating Garudamon. Gomamon's ultimate form, the sea-animal Digimon had grey skin, and his paws were covered with orange fur. On his back sat a large, green shell that had three spikes protruding from it. Zudmon's eyes were surrounded by the same orange fur that covered his paws, and a large spike came out of his forehead. In his right hand, Zudomon carried a large, heavy, metal hammer.
Standing beside Kari was Angewoman, Gatomon's ultimate form. Resembling a majestic angel, Angewoman was garbed in white with the exception of a long, pink ribbon that laid across her shoulders. She had 8 snow-white wings attached to her back, and long, golden-blonde hair. Like Angemon, Angewoman wore a helmet that covered her eyes, giving her the look of a blind prophet. The rest of the Digimon that made up their group was Imperialdramon in his fighter- mode, MetalGarurumon, WarGreymon, and MegaKabuterimon.
Tai turned his attention back to the portal as he heard Daemon's evil laughter get louder and louder. Taking a deep breath, Tai turned to WarGreymon and asked "Are you sure you're ready?"
The armor-clad, dinosaur Digimon didn't bother to look at Tai as all of his attention was turned to the portal, but did respond by saying "No one has ever stopped us when we work together. There's no way he's going to beat us this time". The show of confidence from WarGreymon brought a smile to Tai, though he suspected his partner was only trying to put Tai at ease.
A few moments later, Daemon walked out of the portal, having stopped laughing as he realized that the Digidestined intended to make their final stand there. "Where's the rest of you?" Daemon asked. "Surely you don't expect to stop me without them. That is INSULTING!" Tai and the rest of the Digidestined couldn't help themselves but flinch at Daemon as he said the last word with such a strong voice. Seeing this, Daemon began to take slow, deliberate steps forward, each step causing a loud, thunderous sound. "So obviously the Destiny Stone is here. Would you like to surrender or do you wish to try and stop me?"
"Daemon listen to me!" Sora yelled at the evil Digimon. "What you're doing isn't going to benefit anyone. If you destroy the Destiny Stone then all of the worlds will collapse on each other. There won't be anything left to rule! Is that what you really want?"
Daemon simply laughed at Sora's attempt to reason with him. "Girl, nothing is going to stop The Omega, not even the great Digidestined" he told the group mockingly. "I've had enough of your pestering. Now, I WILL END YOU!" Daemon finished, charging at the group as he did so.
Yolie continued to struggle as she tried to help TK get to Dr. Kido's office. The blonde boy had one arm wrapped around Yolie's shoulder for support and was painfully breathing with every step that they took. Cody had previously split up with the pair in order to get their Digimon, telling them that'd he would meet up with them shortly.
"C'mon TK. His office is just around the corner" Yolie told a hobbling TK, trying to raise TK's morale as well as her own. TK grunted in response to her, doing his best to exert as little energy as possible.
True to her words, Yolie found herself in front of a door labeled "Dr. Kido" a few moments later. With unspoken consent, Yolie helped lean TK on the wall next to the door so that she could open the door. After making sure that he was properly situated, she turned to the door and turned the knob, intending to open it. However, as she did this, she realized that the door had been locked, preventing her and TK from entering. "No! You've got to be kidding me! You have got to be kidding me!" she yelled in frustration at the door, slapping it with the palm of her hand. "TK, the door's locked we have to find another computer" she spat out as she turned back to help TK up.
"We don't have time for that" TK bluntly said as he managed to get to a standing position on his own. TK ignored the questioning look Yolie gave him and walked towards the door, taking a deep breath as he did so. Closing his eyes, TK braced himself for what he was sure would be a painful impact, and rammed his shoulder into the door, drawing a loud, painful gasp from him.
"TK! What are you trying to do?! You have to stop that right now; you're going to hurt yourself!" Yolie exclaimed as TK hunched over in pain, though he managed to stay on his feet by leaning on the door. Jumping to his side, Yolie tried to pull him away from the door but stopped as she heard TK say "We don't have time to find another computer…Now step back".
Taking a few steps backwards, TK put all of his weight into his shoulder and slammed it into the door again. The force TK hit the door with was enough to break the lock and swing the door open, but TK could not gain enough control of himself to prevent falling on his injured ribs in the office. "Oh my god, TK!" Yolie gasped as she saw TK fall on the ground and wither in pain. Running to his side, Yolie helped TK to the desk and leaned him on it.
TK gasped as Yolie touched the injured ribs, drawing a concerned look from Yolie. "TK, you can't do this. You have to start being smart about this; you're going to get yourself killed!"
"Just get the portal open" TK panted as he tried to catch his breath, not wanting to a lecture from her. Yolie didn't move as TK started to painfully cough, though he managed to stop after a few moments. "Look Yolie, I know that you're worried about me doing something stupid, and quite frankly you're right. But…it's Kari…if something happens to her and it's my fault then I could nev-"
"I know about you and Kari, TK" she quickly said, cutting the blonde off. TK gave Yolie a surprised glance, unsure of how he felt about the lavender haired girl knowing about his feelings. "Kari told me the two of you almost kissed yesterday, and that she was falling for you. And I get that you don't want to see anything happen to her, but that goes for her too. TK, she can't handle knowing you died trying to protect her. So stop it. Or else we'll lose both of you…one way or the other".
Yolie didn't wait for TK to respond, letting him ponder her words as he leaned against the desk. She immediately ran to the other side of the room and began to frantically type on the keyboard, doing her best to open a portal to the Digital World in a timely manner. "OK, I got it" Yolie said after a few moments. Raising her digivice, the lavender-haired girl pointed it at the monitor and said "Digiport Open!" Immediately, a white light engulfed the room just as Cody and the Digimon arrived at the office.
"Good," Cody panted as he realized that the portal was open, "now let's go help our friends".
"Yeah" Yolie said as she snuck a glance at TK. "But let's be smart about it" she whispered quietly.
WarGreymon immediately jumped in between the children and Daemon, raising his arm braces to defend himself. As the two Digimon clashed, WarGreymon dug his feet into the ground, doing his best to prevent himself from falling over as Daemon pushed him back. Managing to stop himself before hitting the children, WarGreymon shoved the evil Digimon back, creating some distance between the two.
"Get back!" he yelled to Tai and the others. WarGreymon immediately began to spin, appearing as a large, orange blur after a few seconds. "Great Tornado!" he yelled, propelling himself towards Daemon.
The evil Digimon saw the attack coming and easily dodged WarGreymon, stepping to his right before charging back at the others. In response, all the other Digimon jumped towards Daemon, prepared to attack him at their first opportunity. "Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon exclaimed, slamming his hammer into the ground. As he did this, a beam of light shot straight towards Daemon, the attack glancing off his shoulder.
Zudomon's attack seemingly did little damage to Daemon, as he did not lose any speed as he kept advancing towards the Digidestined. Finally reaching the sea animal Digimon, Zudomon raised his massive hammer, intending to strike Daemon before he could advance any further. The demon Digimon managed to side-step the strike and easily avoided Zudomon. As he passed by him, Daemon managed to get a quick, powerful punch to land on Zudomon, sending the large Digimon flying backwards into several nearby trees.
Immediately after he had attacked Zudomon, Daemon was forced to stop his forward progress as he saw that he was face to face with Garudamon and MetalGarurumon. Without hesitation, Daemon jumped and spread his wings, intending to fly over Garudamon and avoid the giant bird Digimon altogether. Garudamon instantly saw this and raised her right fist, just as it burst into flames. "Crimson Claw!" she yelled as she swung her fist, intending to knock the smaller Digimon back to the ground. Spiraling to the side, Daemon felt the wind of Garudamon's attack as it missed him, and responded by hitting an uppercut on the much larger Digimon. The force of the punch was more than enough to knock Garudamon off her feet and landed hard on her back, letting out a startled cry as she landed.
While he was occupied by Garudamon, MetalGarurumon managed to sneak around to Daemon's side and attacked him while his attention was diverted. Pouncing on his opponent, MetalGarurumon easily clamped his jaw down on Daemon's right arm and managed to throw him off of his course.
The attack from MetalGarurumon caught Daemon by surprise, letting out a frustrated groan as he was violently thrown to the ground. When he hit the ground he did his best to regain his balance, but couldn't stop himself from rolling several more feet before he finally came to a stop. Taking a second to compose himself, Daemon began to rise back to his feet, intending to thoroughly punish MetalGarurumon, but was once again knocked off of his feet as he heard "Horn Buster!" and was rammed in the side by MegaKabuterimon.
Before he had a chance to respond to the attack, MegaKabuterimon broke off from his attack, just as Daemon began reaching for the ultimate-level Digimon. "Have you had enough yet?" the insect-like Digimon asked, taunting his more powerful foe from a safe distance.
"Your efforts are futile!" Daemon responded in frustration, preparing to jump at his opponent. Before he could do so, he heard something behind him begin to hum and turned around just in time to see Imperialdramon pointing his arm-cannon at him. "Futile? Well try this on for size! Positron Laser!" Only a few feet separated the two Digimon, so Daemon was unable to prepare himself for Imperialdramon's attack and took the full force of the laser. Unable to withstand the full force of the attack, Daemon began to stumble backwards, seemingly confused as to what had just happened. As he continued to recover, he failed to notice Angewoman float in front of him and pull her arm back. Suddenly, an arrow of light formed in her hand and was pointed at an unaware Daemon. "Celestial Arrow!" she yelled as she released the arrow and watched as it shot through the air, hitting Daemon directly on the chest.
"ARGH!" the evil Digimon exclaimed, feeling the full effects of Angewomon's attack. Taking a few more steps backwards, Daemon fell to his knees and was holding his chest, seemingly in great pain. "Did…did we do it?" a nervous Kari asked as the battlefield suddenly became silent. In response, Angewoman hovered down and settled in front of Daemon as if to check on him. As she neared, she began to hear a faint laughter followed by "No…you only made things worse". At that, Daemon surprised all of the children by quickly snatching Angewoman by the neck and lifted her up, extending his wings as he did so and rising up. "You fools really think you have a chance against me? YOU ARE ALL SCUM!" he proclaimed, increasing the pressure around Angewomon's throat, causing her to gargle in pain.
The rest of the Digimon quickly jumped into action as the saw this, though none of them wanted to use their special attacks out of fear Daemon would use Angewoman as a shield. WarGreymon was the first to reach Daemon, and did his best to dive into Daemon claws first. Easily dodging his first jab, Daemon used his free arm to grab WarGreymon's left shoulder, and flung him towards the ground, almost hitting Imperialdramon and MetalGarurumon in the process.
After avoiding their friend, MetalGarurumon and Imperialdramon attempted to converge on Daemon at the same time, giving him no escape routes. MetalGarurumon tried to attack Daemon in the same manner that he had earlier and tried to bite his free arm, but was stopped as a fireball suddenly erupted from Daemon's hand and hit him, sending him hurtling towards the ground. As this happened, Imperialdramon did his best to punch Daemon from behind, but found himself punching air as the evil Digimon had easily deduced what Imperialdramon was trying to do. With Imperialdramon's momentum taking him forward, Daemon quickly grabbed the dragon Digimon's tail and vertically spun him around before slamming him into the ground next to MetalGarurumon, drawing a painful groan from Imperialdramon.
"Wing Blade!" Garudamon exclaimed, her body suddenly engulfed by fire. When she finished yelling her attack, the flames leapt from her body in the shape of a bird and headed straight at Daemon. Spiraling forward, Daemon burst through Garudamon's attack without hesitation, the flames seemingly having no effect. Nearing Garudamon, he swung the fist that was wrapped around Angewoman's throat and punched Garudamon across her beak. As she fell back towards the ground, Daemon finally released his hold on Angewoman's throat by throwing her at Garudamon with great force. Both of the heroines cried out in pain as they landed.
"Horn Buster!" MegaKabuterimon attacked from behind, managing to hit the evil Digimon before he could react. Intending to ram him into the ground, MegaKabuterimon activated his thrusters in order to gain speed, but suddenly found himself being thrown over Daemon's head and landed on his back with a large thud, destroying several trees in the process.
Daemon allowed himself to land on the ground and turned to see Zudomon charging towards him with a raised hammer. Zudomon could hear Daemon laugh as he quickly approached him, but continued as he yelled "Vulcan's Hammer!,", swinging his hammer towards Daemon's head.
Preparing for the attack, Daemon grabbed Zudomon's wrist and held it firmly in place, shocking everyone on the battlefield at the sudden display of strength. Zudomon's arm was visibly shaking as he attempted to overpower Daemon, and raised his other fist to attack him in order to cause a distraction. Similar to what he had just done, Daemon halted Zudomon's second attack with his free arm, holding the Digimon firmly in place. Daemon laughed as he watched his opponent continue to struggle to overpower him, and began to squeeze Zudomon's wrist, causing the sea animal Digimon to groan in great pain.
"Zudomon!" Joe called out in concern as he began to run towards his friend. "Get away from him or I'l-"
"Joe, no!" Matt said as he grabbed his arm, preventing Joe from getting near the action. "If you get anywhere in the middle of that than you're done for". Despite his warning, Joe continued to try and break free from Matt's hold, but was unable to do so.
The continued stress on Zudomon's wrist soon became too much for him to handle, causing him to fall on his knees and release the grip he had on his hammer, allowing it to hit the ground with s loud ringing. Noticing Zudomon's weakened state, Daemon released his opponent and watched amusingly as he remained on his knees.
Bending over, Daemon picked up Zudomon's mighty hammer and took a long, hard look at his inferior opponent. Without warning, Daemon swung the hammer and hit Zudomon on the chin, sending him flying backwards with a cry of pain. He landed with a loud crash several yards away, tearing up the ground in the process.
Daemon amusingly watched as Zudomon did his best to rise to his feet, and began to walk towards the sea animal Digimon as he failed to get to his feet. Before he could reach Zudomon though, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon jumped in front of him and halted his progress.
"Don't take another step!" MetalGarurumon barked as Daemon stopped a few feet away from the pair. Raising Zudomon's hammer and pointing it at the two, Daemon responded by saying "This is your last warning. You know you can't stop me from taking what I want, so why even bother? Get out of my way!"
"Not a chance!" responded WarGreymon. Jumping into the air, the dinosaur-like Digimon brought both his arms back and began forming a giant sphere of energy in his palms. "Terra Force!" he exclaimed, throwing the sphere of energy at Daemon. "Metal Wolf Claw!" WarGarurumon attacked simultaneously with WarGreymon, sending out a freezing wave of energy from his mouth. His attack converged on Daemon at the same time as WarGreymon's.
Both of the attacks hit Daemon, causing him to stumble backwards, though he didn't receive any excessive damage. Regaining his composure, he stood straight up and stared down both of his opponents. "Go ahead" he challenged, making up the ground he lost when he took the attacks. "Digivolve…See if you can stop me!"
"Alright, you asked for it!" WarGreymon exclaimed as his and MetalGarurumon's entire body began to glow.
"WarGreymon….MetalGarurumon….DNA Digivolve to…Omnimon!" As soon as WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon combined into one, Omnimon jumped into the air and slammed into Daemon, pushing the evil Digimon backwards.
Pushing the armored, white Digimon off of him, Daemon charged forward and began to throw powerful punches at him while also attacking him with Zudomon's hammer. Omnimon was able to block or evade all of Daemon's first few blows, but Daemon's speed proved too much for him as he found himself being hit several times. Staggering backwards, Daemon attempted to continue his assault by putting more power into his attacks, trying to knock Omnimon into the ground.
"Transcendent Sword" Omnimon exclaimed as he managed to summon a sword from his arm with WarGreymon's armor. Slashing horizontally, he managed to create some distance between him and Daemon, momentarily giving him some breathing room.
Trying to take advantage of the distance between the two Digimon, Omnimon raised his other arm to reveal a cannon that came out of MetalGarurumon arm. "Supreme Cannon!" he attacked, sending out a powerful blast at Daemon. Seeing that attack coming, Daemon deflected Omnimon's attack by hitting it with Zudomon's hammer, redirecting to the ground.
Both Digimon jumped at each other, intending to attack one another at close range with their respective weapons. As the two powerful Digimon engaged in combat, the rest of the Digimon managed to get to their feet and surround Daemon without him noticing. Although Daemon didn't notice his opponents surrounding him, Omnimon managed to divert his attention enough to see what his partners were doing. Knowing that he had to get Zudomon's hammer out of Daemon's hand, Omnimon tried to surprise the evil Digimon by hitting him with his knee while the two were locked up in combat.
Omnimon's attack worked, and he managed to stun Daemon long enough to swing his sword at Daemon's hand, knocking the hammer out of his grip and towards Zudomon. "Omnimon!" Garudamon yelled as soon as Zudomon had retrieved his weapon. "Get back, we'll attack him together!"
Jumping backwards, Omnimon joined his friends in encircling Daemon and raised his left arm in preparation to attack. "Supreme Cannon!"
"Positron Laser!"
"Wing Blade!"
"Horn Buster!"
"Vulcan's Hammer!"
"Celestial Arrow!"
All of the attacks converged onto Daemon at the same time, giving the evil Digimon no room to escape. The ensuing explosion caused the Digidestined to cover their eyes to protect themselves from the intensity of the blast; even the Digimon were pushed backwards from the force of the blast. After several moments, the children finally managed to raise their eyes and looked at what happened and were shocked at the sight.
Somehow, Daemon had managed to create an orb of fire around him, protecting him from receiving any damage. As his opponents stared at him in fear, the flames surrounding Daemon slowly began to fade and become transparent, and they heard his evil laughter increase in volume as he did so. "Time to end this" he barked out as he finally stopped laughing. "Evil Inferno!" he exclaimed, slamming an enclosed fist into the ground. As he did this, a wave of fire erupted from the ground and leapt towards the children.
Instinctively, each Digimon jumped in front of their respective partners, doing their best to defend their friends with their bodies. With the exception of Garudamon, each Digimon managed to reach their partners and cover them up as best they could. Being the largest of the Digimon, Garudamon remained in front of the entire group and used her entire body to shield the children and their partners, consequently taking the brunt of the attack.
"ARRGGHH!" Garudamon cried in pain as the attack connected, instantly draining her strength and power. Even with Garudamon's large mass, the attack seeped through and hit the rest of the Digimon, viciously knocking them to the ground and seemingly knocking each of them unconscious, though none of them reverted back to their weaker forms.
"Angewomon!" Kari exclaimed, running to her partner's side to check on her. Around her, the rest of the children were doing the same with their partners, though this went unnoticed by each of them as they were each focused on one thing. "Angewoman!? Can you hear me? Say something?" Kari cried out, desperate to hear that she was going to be alright.
Kari's attention was so focused on her partner that she didn't feel the dark presence that descended behind her or the shadow that grew larger with each second. "Kari…" she heard Angewoman whisper, momentary relief beginning to run through her. "…run…" the angelic Digimon managed to gasp as she continued to lose strength.
Kari gave a confused look at Angewoman, unsure of what her partner was trying to tell her until she once more heard Daemon's evil laughter. Snapping around, she couldn't help but scream and fall backwards as she came face-to-face with Daemon. Desperately trying to get away from him, Kari began to crawl backwards while trying to regain her footing. Managing to do that, Kari turned and began to run as fast she could away from Daemon, but was suddenly grabbed by her hair and dragged back towards him by Daemon's claws hand.
"OWW! NO! LET ME GO!" she frantically screamed, trying to kick Daemon even though she knew it wouldn't accomplish anything. "AHHH! TAI, HELP ME!" she continued to scream as her efforts continuously failed and he lifted her up to his eye level.
"KARI!" Tai cried out, trying to run to her help. "Omnimon!" he called out, trying to call his partner to action. However, the powerful Digimon was still seemingly unconscious and didn't move at Tai as Tai pleaded for his help. "Kari I'm coming!" he yelled, running to his sister's aid without the help of his friends. Before he could reach her though, a ring of fire appeared out of nowhere and surround Kari and Daemon, stopping anyone else from entering. The sudden appearance of the flames surprised so much that he was knocked backwards and hit the ground. "KARI, NO! LEAVE HER ALONE DAEMON!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, doing anything he could think of to stop the evil Digimon from hurting his sister.
Daemon laughed at Tai's attempts to rescue Kari before turning his attention back to the young brunette. Still painfully holding her by the hair, he whispered "You will be first because without you, he is nothing…" Kari stared back at Daemon with great fear, realizing that Daemon was finally going to kill them. As she watched in fear, a dark spear began to digitize and form in Daemon's free hand, causing Kari to increase her efforts as much as she could. "No…please no…" she began to plead, not knowing what else to do. "Don't worry; the rest of them will soon join you" he responded as he raised the spear.
As he thrust the spear towards the helpless brunette, he caught a glimpse of a purple sword before it hit the arm that was holding Kari and he was knocked down by an unseen opponent. The force of the impact freed Kari from Daemon's grasp, and she felt a set of hands grab her by the shoulders and begin to help her get away from the demon Digimon. Although she was slightly disoriented from her most recent ordeal, she cleared her head enough to look behind her and she what had happened: MagnaAngemon had tackled Daemon to the ground before he could kill her.
Realizing what the majestic Digimon's presence meant, she looked toward the person who was helping her run and found herself staring into TK's eyes. "TK!? What are you doing here? Why aren't you at the hospital?" she demanded, all the concern for her life suddenly gone as she realized TK had once again put himself in harm's way for her.
"We can't beat him unless we're all together" he answered bluntly as he did his best to ignore the pain in his ribs, moving as fast as he could. "And I don't mean to be rude, but please don't argue about this; it's not like I'm going anywhere" he added, doing his best not to sound like a jerk.
"Where…where is Yolie?" she asked, still not believing that TK would do something so stupid.
"Don't be mad. Please don't me mad" Yolie stammered as she suddenly appeared from behind as she ran up to TK's side and wrapped an arm around him for support. "Him and Cody were REALLY convincing" she continued as the three ran for coverage.
Continuing to run, Kari turned her attention to where her brother and the remaining Digidestined were and saw Cody checking on each of their friends. She was about to respond to Yolie, but stopped as she felt TK grab her hand and say "Nothing is going to stop me from finishing this with all of you Kari".
As they finally managed to create a reasonable distance between them and Daemon, Kari stopped and gave Yolie a frustrated look before turning her attention back to TK. "You promised me you wouldn't get yourself killed for me" she said in a stern voice. Although he could tell she wasn't trying to threaten him, TK knew that Kari was serious as she continued. "I…none of us want to lose you TK".
"Nothing is going to happen to me Kari" TK responded, doing his best to sound as confident as possible. "We're going to end this and take Daemon down".
"Guys!" they small group heard someone yell to them, and turned to see Izzy running towards them. "TK! Yolie! That was perfect timing! It worked! I cloaked it!"
"I've defeated all of your friends MagnaAngemon. Surely you don't believe you alone can stop me" Daemon mocked as he and the angelic Digimon stared at each other while circling each other. In response, MagnaAngemon silently charged at Daemon trying to slash him with Excalibur and distract him from the two Digimon that were closing in behind him.
"Horn Blasts!" Aquilamon attacked as he dived towards Daemon. "Tail Hammer!" Ankylomon exclaimed as he swung his tail at Daemon while he was engaged with MagnaAngemon. As the attacks hit Daemon, Aquilamon closed in on the demon Digimon and prepared to join the fight.
The two attacks easily found their target, but seemed to have no effect on Daemon as he continued his assault on MagnaAngemon. Circling above Daemon, Aquilamon dived forward, talons first, intending to strike Daemon once again when his back was turned.
However, this time Daemon was prepared for the surprise assault and disengaged MagnaAngemon by kicking them apart just in time to evade Aquilamon. Unable to stop himself before crashing, Aquilamon painfully hit the ground and began rolling away, clearly out of control.
Ankylomon charged at Daemon after Aquilamon's attacked had missed, intending to run the evil Digimon over. Daemon easily saw the attack coming and jumped into the air while extended a clawed hand just before Ankylomon came into contact with him. The dinosaur-like Digimon was completely caught off guard as Daemon did this and suddenly felt himself being lifted up into the air by one of the spikes on his back.
Before Ankylomon could do anything to break free from his grip, he felt himself violently thrown down and landed on Aquilamon, the giant bird-Digimon letting out a painful grown as it happened. As both of the Digimon were lying on the ground, Daemon dove towards them with his claws raised but stopped as he saw MagnaAngemon fly in between him and his opponents.
"Stop this Daemon! It is too late; you've failed" MagnaAngemon exclaimed, elevating until he was at eye level with Daemon.
"Don't mock me! I've defeated every one of you! You're the final one that will fall, and then I will take over every world! You are the ones that have failed" Daemon taunted as him and MagnaAngemon crept closer and closer to each other.
"It's not here anymore" MagnaAngemon calmly responded, raising his sword in preparation for an attack. Daemon was just about to charge when he suddenly felt an immense source of energy suddenly vanish. Realizing what had happened, Daemon quickly turned his back towards MagnaAngemon and began looking back and forth before crying out in frustration.
"Where is it!? Where did you take Destiny Stone!?" he demanded, turning back to MagnaAngemon. "I could feel it throughout our battle, and now it's just gone! Where did you take it?!" he yelled so loudly that it hurt the Digidestined's ears and made the environment tremble.
Unaffected by Daemon's obvious rage, MagnaAngemon responded "You won't ever find it. Give up this quest of destruction Daemon; it is pointless now".
"If you don't want to tell me where you took it, then I'll take something even more important to you" Daemon mumbled darkly before swinging a flaming fist at MagnaAngemon. Completely caught off guard, MagnaAngemon barely managed to raise his beam shield and block the first of Daemon's punches, but soon found himself trying to evade a flurry of attacks.
Being much more powerful that MagnaAngemon, Daemon finally managed to wear his opponent down enough for him to drop his defenses. Taking advantage of this, Daemon pounced on MagnaAngemon and began to land hit after hit on him, MagnaAngemon's defenses suddenly useless.
"MagnaAngemon!" TK exclaimed as he saw the battle from a distance. Looking around, he saw the rest of the Digimon struggle to get to their feet and assist him, clearly still weak from Daemon's previous attack. "We have to help him!"
"TK, no! You'll get killed" Yolie yelled as she grabbed his arm. "There's no way you're getting in the middle of that". In his weekend state, TK found that he couldn't break free from Yolie's grasp without putting himself in excruciating pain and could only watch as his friend was savagely hit time and time again.
In a final desperate attempt to go on the offensive, MagnaAngemon lifted his sword and took a wild slash at Daemon, doing anything to get the evil Digimon away from him. However, Daemon easily countered the attack and grabbed MagnaAngemon's wrist, immobilizing him as Daemon continued to land blow after blow. As each punch landed with an explosion of flames, MagnaAngemon soon beaten into defeat.
Finally releasing MagnaAngemon's wrist, Daemon grabbed the angelic Digimon by his throat and threw him to the ground. Before anyone had a chance to react to the beating from Daemon, the evil Digimon raised his arm and began forming a sphere of flaming energy. Each second the sphere of energy grew and soon it was larger than Daemon's entire body.
"NO!" TK cried out as he saw Daemon prepare to attack his friend. Summoning the rest of the strength he had left in him, TK recklessly broke away from Yolie's grip and painfully sprinted towards MagnaAngemon. "TK!" Yolie exclaimed as she realized what had happened.
TK only managed to get halfway towards his partner before he felt two arms wrap around him and he stumbled to the ground. "TK, there's nothing you can do!" he heard Kari cry out as she fell to the ground with him, her body in between Daemon and TK. "Kari, I have to help him" he pleaded, trying to get back to his feet but found that he couldn't with Kari's arms wrapped around him. Had TK not been injured, he would've forced the young brunette off of him, but was too weak to do so after the events of the last several days.
Just as Daemon was preparing to attack MagnaAngemon, he noticed the rest of the Digimon had managed to rise to their feet and had him surrounded, though none of them looked strong enough to attack him. Even MagnaAngemon had managed to get to his knees despite the brutal beating he had just been through. Chuckling to himself, Daemon changed his mind and hovered to the ground, the sphere of energy still in the palm of his hand. "I won't kill you, not yet" he said evilly as he finally landed on the ground. "I will teach all of you despair before I kill you" Daemon whispered quietly before slamming the sphere of fire on the ground.
As soon as his fist hit the ground, a huge, circular wave of fire exploded from around Daemon and went straight towards the Digidestined and their Digimon. As the attack inched closer and closer, the size of the attack continued to grow, and soon the tower of flames were taller than even some of the Digimon. Realizing what Daemon was doing, all of the Digimon mustered the rest of their energy and dove towards their respective partners, knowing they would die if the attack reached them.
Each of the Digimon managed to reach their respective partners before the attack reached them, and did their best to cover them up from the blast while preparing for the impact. Daemon's attack connected with each Digimon a moment later, drawing out a cry of pain from each of them as they took the majority of the damage. The intensity of the attack was so powerful that upon contact with them, each of the Digimon instantly reverted back to their Rookie forms, allowing the remainder of the energy to seep through and hit the children.
None of the children were prepared as Daemon's attack managed to reach them, preventing any of them from protecting themselves. When the wave of energy first hit them, each of the children were sent flying backwards with the exception of TK and Kari, who were already on the ground. As each of the Digidestined hit the ground with a hard thud, they all slipped into unconsciousness, leaving each one of them defenseless to Daemon's will.
Walking forward while admiring the destruction he had just created, Daemon prepared to leave the battlefield when he heard a painful coughing-noise near him. Smiling as he heard this, he began to make his way to the source of the noise, passing several of the defeated Digimon and Digidestined in the process.
TK tried to cover his ears to stop the intense ringing that was resonating within them, but could not since Kari's arms were still wrapped around him in a protective manner. Turning his head, he could see that both Gatomon and Patamon were on the ground with their eyes closed, clearly hurt. When he noticed this, he realized that Angewomon and MagnaAngemon must've managed to reach the pair before Daemon's attack directly hit them. In addition to having two Digimon shielding him, Kari had also sacrificed herself to ensure he took as little injury as possible.
Groaning, TK did his best to lift Kari off of him so he could check on the young brunette, but found that he was still too weak to lift even her small frame. Despite knowing this, he continued to struggle before he heard a set of thunderous footsteps making their way towards him. Knowing who the footsteps belonged to, TK doubled his efforts to get out from under Kari so that he could lead the danger away from her and the rest of the group, but continued to come up short.
Suddenly, TK felt Kari's weight swiftly thrown off of him and looked up to see Daemon's dark eyes staring at him, sending chills up his spine. TK did his best to crawl away from Daemon, but Daemon easily kept pace with him and overtook him in a matter of seconds.
When he was close enough to touch TK with the bottoms of his robes, Daemon lifted his foot and placed it painfully on TK's ribs, drawing an agonizing cry from TK as he tried to squirm his way out from his position. "You don't know where they sent the Destiny Stone, do you?" he asked the blonde darkly, still oblivious to what Izzy had really done with the Destiny Stone. As he questioned him, Daemon began increasing the pressure on TK's ribs.
"….no…." he barely managed to respond, closing his eyes as he tried to take his mind off the pain. "But even if I did…there's no way I'd ever say anything to you".
"Good," Daemon said with a laugh, putting even more weight onto TK's injured ribs, "that is going to make what happens next much worse for your friends. Knowing that I killed you for no other reason than to make them feel despair. To take away what little hope they have left" he finished as he finally removed his foot and kicked TK in the ribs. As the kick connected, TK gave another cry of pain as he rolled on the ground clutching his ribs, spitting up blood in the process. The throbbing pain he felt continued to paralyze him and he was completely helpless in front of the evil Digimon.
"I could kill her" he mocked as he began to walk in circles around TK, darkly staring at him. "I could kill that pathetic excuse for a Digimon you have. I could will them both as I forced you to watch and hear, but hope would never die, would it?" Ceasing to walk in circles, Daemon took two steps forward and reached for TK, grabbing the blonde by the neck and lifting him to eye level. Daemon did not choke to, but rather brought the injured boy to his face and said in a whisper "No…all of their hope will end with you. And now that's exactly what I will do".
As last words left Daemon, TK felt an all-to-familiar sensation in his brain as his head began to painfully throb, and he quickly realized Daemon was beginning to torture him as he had earlier. Clutching his head, TK realized all of his reserves of strength had been used long ago, and couldn't help himself as darkness began to engulf him as wave after wave of pain hit him. Groaning, TK closed his eyes and let himself slip into the darkness, doing anything it took to escape Daemon's torture. With one last gasp of air, TK passed out and hung limply in Daemon's grasp.
Once Daemon realized that TK was unconscious, he quickly formulated a plan and turned his head towards his destination, preparing to fly towards it when he felt something lightly brush his foot. Looking down, he saw Kari holding onto his foot as she continued to crawl closer and closer towards Daemon, hoping that somehow she could prevent him from taking TK.
Having been startled into awareness when Daemon threw her off of TK, Kari had seen and heard everything that had transpired and did her best to reach the demon Digimon and her blonde crush before they got away. "…please…" she pleaded weakly, barely strong enough to make an audible sound. "…you…you don't have to do this….he's been through enough" she continued to beg.
Daemon stared at the young girl, quietly impressed that she had the strength to move or the courage to try and stop him. Despite this though, Daemon had every intention of making all of the Digidestined suffer before finally ending them. And he knew exactly where he was going to do it at.
Kari watched as Daemon raised his free arm and point it at her. As he did this, Kari immediately felt her mind explode in pain the same way it had when Daemon had captured her and TK in the Dark Ocean world. Too weak to utter a scream, Kari released her grip on Daemon's leg and grabbed her head, rolling onto her back while moaning in intense pain.
"You're a fool; all of you are fools!" Daemon exclaimed as he watched Kari wither on the ground as he prepared to fly away again. "I will wait for you and all of you shall watch when I end him...I know you are aware of where I will end this…Don't disappoint me".
Kari tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her head as Daemon leapt into the sky and began to fly away, but couldn't do anything more than roll onto her stomach and crawl a few feet. The last image she saw was Daemon's dark figure disappear into the dark, orange sky as the pain overwhelmed her and she fell into darkness.
"Kari! Kari, talk to me; wake up!" Kari felt herself being shaken as she slowly began to stir, not immediately recognizing the voice. As she finally managed to open her eyes, she felt her upper body being lifted and the familiar embrace of a hug as her eyesight returned to her. "Tai?" she asked, confused as to what was happening.
Releasing his embrace, Tai separated himself from her, though he kept his hands on her shoulders to keep her steady. "I can't believe you're ok! I thought we lost you for a second" he exclaimed as Kari noticed the trail of tears on her brother's face. It was obvious to her that he was genuinely scared for her well-being.
"Yeah Tai I'm fine, don't worr-" Kari began but stopped as her memory from the past few days slowly began to return to her. Before everything finally dawned on her, she faintly heard someone yelling "TK! TK WHERE ARE YOU?! TK!?" After the voice continued to yell and become louder, she recognized the voice belonged to Matt and suddenly everything made sense to her.
"Tai!" she suddenly yelped, frantically grapping his shoulders. "Where's TK? He was right beside me when I was knocked out?" Kari stared at Tai with desperate eyes, causing the older boy to look away in guilt.
"Kari…" he began before turning back towards Matt, who was frantically looking everywhere for his little brother. Returning his gaze back to Kari, Tai said "We…we don't know Kari. Everyone else is accounted for but…" Trailing off, Tai found that he could not continue talking as his gaze returned to a frantic and hysterical Matt.
Time felt like it suddenly stopped for Kari as she realized Tai couldn't complete his sentence. She slowly began to recount her conversation with Daemon before blacking out, trying to remember anything that could lead them to TK. A sudden realization came upon Kari, causing her to gasp, and she grabbed Tai's shoulder and turned him towards her. "How long have we been unconscious?" she frantically asked as the two rose to their feet.
"Uh…I don't know. Izzy said he thought it's probably been an hour" he responded, clearly confused as he noticed a mixture of guilt, fear, and hope in Kari's eyes.
"OK…OK" she thought out loud as she began to think. "Tai," Kari said, looking her brother in the eye, "we have to go right now" Kari told him as she rose to her feet and began to walk towards Matt. Grabbing her arm, Tai stopped her from walking away and said "What are you doing? Where do we have to go?" as he too got up.
"Tai…please just this once you have to trust me" she pleaded with him. Tai took a few deep breaths before nodding his head and letting go of his sister's arm, doing his best to give her a supportive smile. "Thank you" she whispered before turning and running towards Matt.
"Matt!" Kari called out as she managed to catch up with the older boy. As he saw her run up to him, Matt opened his mouth to say something to Kari but stopped as Kari began talking before he could utter a word. "Matt stop; I know where he took TK".
So since it's become a consistent thing (unfortunately) I'll go ahead and say it: I'm really sorry for the late update. First off, my laptop finally decided to die and thus I had to save up for a new laptop. In total, I've been computer-less since December. It is the end of March, so I've officially had this laptop for a total of three weeks. Spring Break was two week ago for me, and I'm not going to lie, I desperately needed a break from school to catch up on some sleep. Then, once I got back from Spring Break (for those of you who haven't done the math, this is last week) I was bombarded with 3 exams, an interim presentation for my project, and a 25-page paper on my project. And to top it all off, my dorm flooded so I got to deal with that for a few days. Not that any of this means anything, I just really felt the need to rant to someone (or some-ones as hopefully is the case).Yet somehow, in the middle of all of that, I managed to write this chapter. Basically, I really hope everyone liked this chapter because it was a pain to knock out .
On a MUCH brighter note: I've got 100+ reviews for this story! I literally jumped for joy when I saw that. For everyone who said they thought the story deserved more, thank you for your opinion and I really appreciate it. Additionally, this story is over two years old (I milestone I forgot to mention last chapter), so I was pleasantly surprised by that when I realized it. Anyways, I just really wanted to be sure and thank everyone for reading and enjoying the story thus far.
Lastly, thank you for for noticing the spelling error in my summary. I'm not going to lie, I have absolutely no idea how I missed that. And to chromate, thanks for telling me how to separate my scenes. Hopefully this works when I upload it.
I'm planning on 2-3 more chapters for this story (not entirely sure yet), but I'm sure I'll have it figured out by my next posting. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review!