Chapter 25 End of the Battle

"Wow! Look at all those pretty floaty thingies!"

"Sorry to burst your blissful bubble of imbecility, but those aren't thingies."

"Oh yeah? Well what are they, hm?"

"Well...um...I don't know, but thingies do not glow."

"Oh. Okay!"

The digidestined and their digimon companions looked up at the floating fortress above them as more streams of fractal codes are absorbed into it, causing more and more of the Digital World to come apart.

"Whatever it is, it sure is sucking up a whole lot of data."

Suddenly parts of the rubble beneath them started to float up towards the fortress. Some of the rubble underneath Kiari also started to float, causing her to fall back onto the floating pieces of rubble. She brought out her wings and flew down to stand next to Koichi as the two of them looked up at the fortress.

"Cherubimon is up to something up there. I can feel it."

"I can feel it too. I can still sense the dark energy within him."

Everyone else also looked up and watched as the floating rubble continue to slowly rise up towards the fortress.

"Apparently the space and time data is being affected by some sort of energy warp."

"Or...by those glowing thingies."

"Ugh! Neemon will you please stop it with you thingy...uh...thingy."

"I think it's time that we finish this. Are you with me, Takuya?"

"Uh huh. We have to do something, right?"

"Right. And you and I are the only ones who can do it."

Zephyrmon, Korikakkumon, and MetalKabuterimon undid their spirit evolution before walking up to stand aligned with Koichi. They each had their detectors up, ready to give their spirits to Takuya and Koji so they can go and fight Cherubimon.

"So you guys don't mind staying behind?"

"Well why would we mind? After all, you guys are the ones who have to fight Cherubimon. EmperorGraymon, MagnaGarurumon are the only ones strong enough to fight him. But don't worry. We'll be right here rooting for ya."

J.P. then walked over to Koji and Takuya and told them something about them dealing with him if they lost. Then he talked about something about throwing the two a celebration if they won. Patamon offered to make a really big and yummy dish, Zoey offered to go on a date with them, Tommy offered to give them each a big kiss on the cheek, Bokomon offered to knit them matching waistbands, and Koichi offered some words of encouragement.

"Well I'm ready as I'll ever be. How about it?"

"I'm ready." Kiari walked ahead a bit before looking back at her friends. "We have to win this. After this battle, peace will be restored to the Digital World." Kiari was happy to see the confidence in her friends' faces, but was concerned when she saw the look Koji had. "Is something the matter, Koji?"

"Kiari, can I have a word with you? In private?" Kiari and Koji walked away from the group until they were out of everyone else's hearing range. "I think you should stay behind with everyone else."

"What? But why? You and Takuya aren't the only ones who stand a chance against Cherubimon. I stand a chance against him too."

"I know that. But your safety might be the only hope for the Digital World. You have to stay where you can be safe, and that's here with the others."

"Might? You're saying as though you and Takuya might not be able to defeat Cherubimon."

"This battle's going to be tough. You'll get seriously hurt if you came with me and Takuya. That's why I want you to stay here. I won't forgive myself if something bad happened to you."

"Koji..."

"So promise that you'll just stay here with the others where it's safe. Takuya and I will deal with Cherubimon." Kiari nodded her head in reply before she and Koji walked back to the others. "Alright. Let's go and finish this battle."

Takuya and Koji unified spirit evolved into EmperorGraymon and MagnaGarurumon before going off to a final battle against Cherubimon. Kiari watched them leave with a concerned look on her face. Zoey noticed this and, due to her female instincts, walked over to stand next to her.

"Don't worry so much. I'm sure that Takuya and Koji will be back before you know it. You just have to have faith in them."

"You're right, Zoey. I want to go and help them fight Cherubimon, but I promised Koji that I'd stay here. If something bad happened to them, I'll blame myself for not trying to help them when I could have."

"Besides asking you to promise him you'd stay, what else did Koji tell you?"

"He said that my safety will be the only hope for the Digital World if he and Takuya fail to defeat Cherubimon. He also said that he won't forgive himself if anything were to happen to me. He's always been trying to protect me ever since we met."

"Really?" Kiari was curious about the look Zoey had on his face when she said that. "Sounds to me that Koji has thing for you, Kiari."

"What are you talking about, Zoey?"

"Think about it. He's always wanting to protect you, and he cares a lot about your safety. Sounds like he likes you. A lot."

"Really? How can you tell?"

"Let's just call it a girl's intuition." Kiari had a smile on her face as she looked towards the fortress where she can see her friends fight Cherubimon. "So do you feel the same way for him?" Kiari started to blush and down to hide it, but Zoey noticed. "So you do like him. How come you haven't told him?"

"I can never find the courage to tell Koji how a felt about him, I guess. It's kinda funny. Me being the Digital Princess and one of the last hopes of the Digital World doesn't even make me a bit nervous, but confessing my feelings for Koji does."

The battle started to become more intense. By the looks of it, Cherubimon must've used the fractal codes he took and used them to increase his power. This started to make it difficult for EmperorGraymon and MagnaGarurumon since Cherubimon was too quick for them to try to attack him. MagnaGarurumon started to try to attack head on, but what Cherubimon didn't know as he dodged the attacks was that he falling into a trap. By the time he realized it, EmperorGraymon used his Dragonfire Crossbow, a powerful attack, to hit him directly. Unfortunately, Cherubimon was able to survive the hit as he grew his size at least ten times his original size. Cherubimon used a powerful attack called Thousand Spears to pin down EmperorGraymon and MagnaGarurumon to the ground before using another attack called Terminal Judgment to finish them off. Everyone else started to really worry about their friends since they were knocked out by Cherubimon's attack.

"That's it!" Everyone's attention was turned to Kiari who had her detector in her hand. "Even though I'll be breaking my promise, I'm not going to continue standing here and watch Takuya and Koji lose like this!"'

Kiari warp spirit evolved into WarAngelicmon before flying off to join the battle. It wasn't long that she found Cherubimon looking down at her fallen friends.

"Cherubimon!" Cherubimon looked up from his fallen opponents and saw WarAngelicmon hovering not to far away. "You're going to pay for hurting my friends, and for what you've done to the Digital World!"

"You're foolishness to fight me will lead you ending up like your weak and foolish friends. Lightning Spear!" Cherubimon threw his Lightning Spear but missed when WarAngelicmon fly out of the way. "Thousand Spears!"

"That's not going to work on me! Wave of Hope!"

WarAngelicmon held both of her arms out in front of her before spreading them apart, releasing a huge wave of light towards the Cherubimon's spears and destroying most of the spears. WarAngelicmon then started flying towards Cherubimon as she unleashed in Angelic Charm attack on him. Cherubimon blacked the attack before unleashing his Storm of Judgment. WarAngelicmon started to quickly dodge each bolt, not noticing that EmperorGraymon had woken up.

"What? Oh no. We're still here. It was just a dream. We're not done yet." EmperorGraymon used his blade to help him up on his feet as he found MagnaGarurumon lying not too far away. "MagnaGarurumon! Wake up!"

"Huh?" MagnaGarurumon woke up as he got up when he heard explosions coming from above them. "Someone else is fighting Cherubimon. But that means..." MagnaGarurumon looked up and was shocked to see WarAngelicmon dodging another of Cherubimon's Lightning Spears. "WarAngelicmon?! What's she doing here?!"

"Looks like she decided to join in the fight after all. It's a good thing too. We're going to need her help if we want to defeat Cherubimon. And by the looks of it, she needs our help too. Come on!"

WarAngelicmon dodged another Lightning Spear, but failed to dodge the next one as she started falling back until she was caught by EmperorGraymon. She thanked him before EmperorGraymon started to try to get a hit on Cherubimon. WarAngelicmon was about to go too if MagnaGarurumon didn't grab her arm.

"Why did you break you're promise? You were supposed to stay with the others."

"I'm sorry that I broke my promise, but when I saw you get hurt I couldn't just stand and watch. Are you mad?"

"Well since you did it for a good reason, I'll let it slide. To be honest, I'm kinda glad that you did."

"Uh...guys?" MagnaGarurumon and WarAngelicmon looked to see EmperorGraymon dodge another Lightning Spear. "Hate to interrupt this moment, but we still have a battle to finish."

"He's right. We have to finish this."

WarAngelicmon and MagnaGarurumon flew over to EmperorGraymon before MagnaGarurumon knocked away a Lightning Spear. They tried to attack Cherubimon but ended up being slammed into ground again.

"Nothing seems to work. We're going to need a plan. Any ideas, guys?"

"We can't hit him from a distance. We have to get closer and aim for his forehead. That's where his power's coming from."

"So if we remove all that data from his forehead, then we'll get the upper hand. But how are we going to get close enough without him bringing us down again?"

"My attacks can destroy Cherubimon's attacks. That might make it easier for you guys to get closer and remove the data in his forehead. But after seeing his more powerful attacks, I don't think I'll be able to stop all of the bolts, so you better hurry."

"Then I'll just fly ahead and try to distract. EmperorGraymon will follow behind me and go straight for the forehead."

"What? Why should you go first? My armor is stronger that yours."

"He's right, MagnaGarurumon. Maybe he should go ahead of you."

"But then what am I supposed to do once I get close enough. In case you guys haven't noticed, none of my attacks work on him. The only way to get him is with EmperorGraymon's sword. He's our only chance to defeat Cherubimon. What do you say, EmperorGraymon."

"No problem." EmperorGraymon looked towards WarAngelicmon as thhe three of them stood up. "You go on ahead WarAngelicmon. We'll be right behind you."

"Got it. Good luck, guys."

"Yeah. You too."

Cherubimon unleashed a powerful blast of dark energy towards the trio as WarAngelicmon flew up and used her Angelic Charm attack to destroy it. MagnaGarurumon and EmperorGraymon started heading up towards Cherubimon, who had unleashed wave after wave of his Thousand Spears attack. WarAngelicmon flew next to MagnaGarurumon and used her Heaven's Strike attack, which was a storm of a bunch of bolts of white energy. Like WarAngelicmon predicted, her attack wasn't able to stop all of the spears. MagnaGarurumon flew in front of her and used his armor to defend against the remaining spears, causing parts of his armor to fall off.

"Hang in there, Koji!"

"We're almost there!"

Cherubimon unleashed another powerful attack, Lightning Blast, towards the trio as MagnaGarurumon flew more ahead of his friends and got ready for the attack. Seeing what his intention was, WarAngelicmon increased her speed and flew to catch up with MagnaGarurumon. She then used her Angelic Charm to try to stop the attack, but her attack was overcome by Cherubimon's. Cherubimon's Lightning Blast made impact on MagnaGarurumon and WarAngelicmon, causing them to fall back towards the ground. EmperorGraymon continued moving forward until he was close enough to stab his sword into Cherubimon's forehead. After scanning and purifying Cherubimon's data, he flew down WarAngelicmon and MagnaGarurumon.

"Are you guys okay?"

"That depends. Did we beat him?"

"Oh yeah."

"Then we're fine." Was what MagnaGarurumon said before undoing his spirit evolution.

WarAngelicmon and EmperorGraymon did the same before Kiari and Takuya helped Koji on his feet. They each took one of his arms and placed it over their shoulders before they started walking back to where their friends were waiting for them. When they got there, they saw their friends cheering for their victory against Cherubimon, unaware that there was another threat that was far worse than Cherubimon.