Author's Note: Post move exhaustion hit me like a tank today. So not a whole lot to say before this chapter, other than a special thanks to for following and favoriting both me as an author and this story in particular. I'm pretty sure since your username could easily be a website, Fanfiction would automatically remove it as part of its link filtering, which is why I subbed in the.. On with the chapter!
After what felt like an eternity, Rosemon finally stopped having to listen to GigaSeadramon's screams. Normally such a situation might be more cause for worry, but since she was currently inside her friend's head and the emergency lighting was still on, she took this to mean Leopardmon's attack was over, not that GigaSeadramon had been destroyed. He hadn't been forced to revert either, so maybe Leopardmon's attack had just been incredibly painful instead of damaging. Either way, she was worried about how her partner was holding up, so she did about the only thing she could think of and started asking if GigaSeadramon was okay.
Almost immediately, she got a response, though not in the form she was thinking. Unlike before where GigaSeadramon was able to talk to her, he was now communicating via text flashing across one of the main screens in what would have been the control center if he wasn't a living creature. "Please keep your voice down. I have taken a lot of damage and am trying to play dead." Rosemon wasn't sure whether she should roll her eyes at GigaSeadramon's dramatic statement or sigh in relief that he was still okay, so she settled for doing both. In a much quieter voice, she responded, "Okay, I can play along. What exactly happened, is there anything I can do to help, and are you going to be able to keep fighting after this?"
When more text flashed across the screen, Rosemon realized she would have to get used to carrying on a conversation this way. "Leopardmon can shoot sword beams. Thousands of them. And they can cut through my armor easily." Rosemon winced. "How bad are we talking about here?" One of the screens showed a diagram of GigaSeadramon to document every place he had taken damage, but the screen was such a collection of red warning signs that Rosemon couldn't make out any details. GigaSeadramon seemed to realize this and put a very brief summary. "Propulsion systems are all offline. I have enough energy for one weak shot of my Giga Sea Destroyer, but beyond that weapons are gone as well. I am also currently a severed head, and I don't know how many pieces my body has been sliced into."
For a second Rosemon couldn't believe the last statement, but when GigaSeadramon didn't indicate he was joking she realized it might just be an accurate statement. "How—" Almost as if predicting her question, GigaSeadramon started to display a bit more information. "My body was designed to be the ultimate weapons for undersea combat. That includes being able to continue functioning if I have a massive hull breach at any point on my body- I'm designed to be able to seal off or even detach just about anything. As long as my DigiCore is intact, I can survive virtually anything- though Leopardmon hit me a little harder than I was designed to withstand. I'm alive, but not really functioning at the moment. And because I'm designed to withstand being blasted apart, I will need a mechanic team more than a healing team to reassemble."
Rosemon thought for a few seconds before coming up with an idea on how to make the best out of the current situation. "You said you had one shot, right? Then here's the plan. I'll go out there and get him to line up with your cannon so you can hit him with everything you've got left. Then, I'll keep him busy while you revert, get healed, and Digivolve again. I know GigaSeadramon won't be an option anymore, but I'd much rather fight alongside you as MetalSeadramon than face him alone."
GigaSeadramon paused for a second before displaying a new message. "Funny, Michael just sent me the same plan. Leopardmon is currently slightly to my left, so if you head out one of the starboard gashes you should be able to sneak out." Unlike before, Rosemon didn't have the benefit of GigaSeadramon lighting a path for her to lead her to her destination, but it was fairly easy to pick a direction and go until she found a hole blasted through the side of GigaSeadramon's armor. However, almost as soon as she exited, her plan to sneak up on Leopardmon went awry. The Royal Knight must have wandered into GigaSeadramon's line of fire, and the critically damaged Burst Mode tried to fire off his last shot of Giga Sea Destroyer when he had the chance. However, he must have been more damaged than he had thought, and the energy torpedo was destabilized to the point where it exploded before he could fire it.
The misfire had three different effects. First, it knocked Rosemon away, as even with the relatively weak shockwave she hadn't been expecting to need to brace herself. Second, it forced the reversion GigaSeadramon had already been planning on using before the Android Digimon expected it, so he found himself in his Baby form of Pichimon instead of his planned reversion only to the Rookie level. Unfortunately, the third effect rendered the difference pointless, as Leopardmon's attention was instantly drawn to the source of the explosion. Seeing the small white figure where GigaSeadramon's head had been, he launched another volley of his Eine Billion attack. The flurry of pink beams launched from his sword completely obscured Rosemon's line of sight to her friend, but when the various severed pieces of GigaSeadramon's armor burst into data seemingly on their own she knew what must have happened. By the time the pink light faded leaving just the ghost of a blue afterglow, there was no sign of Michael's partner.
Rosemon responded to the death of her friend by suddenly shutting down all of her thoughts. Leopardmon was in front of her, and anything not directly related to destroying him was pushed aside in her mind. This wasn't to say she lost focus in a blind rage- as she charged towards the Royal Knight, she took in every facet of the battlefield around her and made note of everything that might provide an advantage or disadvantage. One such factor was Leopardmon's sword, which was charged with glowing pink energy. Doubtless attacking that with a normal vine would be a bad idea, but luckily she wasn't the only Rosemon she knew. Borrowing and modifying a trick from Mari's partner, she took the energy normally used in her Kiss of Breath attack and used it to charge her whip and rapier. By the time she had closed in on Leopardmon, her weapons matched his in seeming to be made completely of pink energy.
Leopardmon saw the charging Burst Mode Digimon and calmly prepared to strike her down. However, Rosemon was prepared for the sword attack, and countered with the whip in her left hand. While she knew she wasn't likely to be able to deflect the sword itself, the weapon could only go where Leopardmon's arm was. With a quick flick of her wrist, she bound the Royal Knight's arm and wrenched it sideways. The unorthodox parry caught the Royal Knight off guard, and Rosemon made use of the sudden opening to put all of her energy into a riposte. The augmented rapier slammed into the Royal Knight's chest, but the Fairy Digimon barely managed to pierce his armor before Leopardmon managed a counterattack, emitting a brown fog from his entire body.
As soon as the fog made contact with her skin, Rosemon felt her skin begin to burn. To make matters worse, Leopardmon's Braun Nebel was not only acidic, but started draining the energy off of her weapons as well. As her vines wilted, Leopardmon was able to escape her grasp and spring backwards. Rosemon was certain he was leaving her to be destroyed by the effects of his attack, but in less than a second a massive gust of wind cleared the air around her. This allowed her to clearly see Leopardmon as he brandished his sword in a backwards arc and cleared away the other half of his own attack. The Royal Knight then sheathed his blade and bowed before redrawing it and assuming a ready stance for combat.
Rosemon assumed a similar stance of her own, but she didn't particularly care about whether she had earned the respect of this fake Royal Knight. Regardless of whether he thought she was a worthy opponent, she was going to bring him down as quickly as possible. The first step of her plan had already been completed, and now all that was left was to finish the fight. She charged back at Leopardmon, ready to repeat the same strategy as before. However, this time the Royal Knight was prepared, and adjusted the timing of his swing so he was able to avoid Rosemon's parry. Just to be on the safe side, he cut through her whip entirely, and took off her left arm in the process. Rosemon's only response was to grit her teeth as she used her remaining arm to throw her cape over Leopardmon's body. She managed to groan out "Charité" to finish her attack before Leopardmon reached out and stabbed her through the chest. However, just before she burst into data she managed to see Leopardmon bound within a giant tree, and she knew she wasn't dying alone. The Sinning Tree would keep Leopardmon trapped in a world of illusion until it absorbed all of his data- and if the tree happened to be destroyed, it would take the life of its victim with it. As Rosemon faded away, she knew she had at least helped her friends by taking a powerful enemy with her.
Ryo groaned as he picked himself off the ground, only to realize he was currently in his human form and not Justimon anymore. Looking behind him, he saw Cyberdramon covered in a rainbow glow that meant he was likewise being healed from Jesmon's latest attack. Knowing it would take a few more seconds before his partner was ready to Biomerge again, Ryo just wondered if Jesmon's abilities were some form of karmic retribution for his performance in the Digimon card game. With his subconscious memories of having to use the strengths of random Digimon to their fullest in order to survive, he had been able to find all the obscure strategies to find an easy way to victory. Add on his later-developed ability to draw the card he needed when he needed it and his even more recent skill of being able to create cards out of nowhere thanks to the DigiGnomes, and he supposed he was a game breaker in his own right. And after various rule patches and bans, it seemed the universe was now trying a more direct approach to balance his abilities by throwing an even more broken opponent in his path.
A split second later, Ryo's head suddenly cleared as whoever had been healing him finished the job. Seeing Cyberdramon was taking longer to heal, he started scanning the battlefield trying to make out the current situation. However, apart from HolyAngemon likewise being healed a few yards away, Ryo couldn't see any signs of the battle. Sound, however, was a different matter, as there was almost a constant metallic clang ringing through the air that told Ryo HiAndromon and Jesmon were still crossing swords. A vicious snarl alerted him to the fact that Cyberdramon was back in action, so Ryo quickly Biomerged before the Ultimate level gave in to his violent nature and charged into battle on his own.
Now that he was seeing things through Justimon's eyes again instead of relying on weaker human senses, Ryo could actually keep track of what was going on- or at least, he could see HiAndromon and Jesmon briefly whenever they crossed swords, and in between those moments he was able to at least keep track of the white and black blurs they became. At this point, the Android Digimon was the only one who had a chance against the Royal Knight, but Ryo was surprised he had managed to hold on as long as he had. The only thing allowing HiAndromon to maintain an even footing with Jesmon was his Copy Paste attack, which let him copy the attributes of his opponent and use them as his own. As such, he now had exact replicas of Jesmon's arm blades, and had managed to keep up with the speed and power boosts of the OS Generics.
However, there were two major drawbacks to the current situation that left HiAndromon at a distinct disadvantage. First, Jesmon could keep making himself stronger every time he got hit, while HiAndromon was at a fixed level until he re-used his Copy Paste attack. This was especially noticeable when Ryo and HolyAngemon tried to help- they would be able to get hits in while the Royal Knight was distracted, but any damage they did just made Jesmon stronger and put HiAndromon in a worse situation than he would have been without their interference. He must have managed to renew his Copy Paste before Jesmon was able to do too much damage, but Ryo wasn't sure how many times the android would get that lucky. The second and more troublesome reason was the simple matter that HiAndromon could copy Jesmon's swords and level of power, but he simply was not used to fighting in this matter. Jesmon was just far more skilled with the blades than HiAndromon could ever hope to be. The Android Digimon had already reduced himself down to two blades because he was unable to effectively use the tail blade, but even the arm swords were an unfamiliar weapon to the Android while the Royal Knight had possessed them since he first assumed his Mega form.
While Kazu's partner showed a surprising degree of resilience, eventually Jesmon managed to find an opening in the Android's fighting style. The slight opening was all the Royal Knight needed to score a hit with his bladed tail- and when HiAndromon reacted to the pain, he left himself open for the rest of the Judgement of the Blade combo. HiAndromon had also managed to increase his durability by copying the effects of the OS Generics on Jesmon, but against this assault Ryo knew it wouldn't be enough. He was wracking his brain trying to come up with some strategy that might help, but before he could think of anything the ground beneath the two combatants suddenly rose into the air. Trying to find a source, Ryo saw MegaGargomon in the distance alongside what appeared to be Gankoomon. The other Royal Knight had his hands shoved into the earth and seemed to be using that as a leverage point to flip a large section of the ground itself.
As Gankoomon flipped the massive slab of rock, it seemed to change composition, turning entirely into a block of what looked like steel. Ryo supposed such an attack might be formidable if you got trapped under the slab, but Jesmon had more than enough advance warning to dart away even if he hadn't had his speed amplified numerous times. But even with Jesmon not taking any damage from the attack, Ryo realized it served two important purposes- it brought Jesmon's attention squarely on to the other Royal Knight instead of anybody else, and it gave the damaged HiAndromon space to revert to Kapurimon in peace before passing out. Gankoomon started going into a long-winded rant about how he was disappointed in Jesmon for letting a copy of himself be so easily controlled, but Ryo didn't pay attention to that as MegaGargomon and HolyAngemon both started flying towards him.
HolyAngemon brought over the unconscious Kapurimon and then waited for MegaGargomon to explain the situation. Henry gave a brief rundown of what had happened in his brief conflict with the Royal Knight before Suzie had managed to free him from Lucemon's control, but any further explanation was cut off by a shockwave as the two Royal Knights clashed. Jesmon was not holding back, using Atho, René, and Por to supplement his Judgement of the Blade attack. The only thing that was more impressive to Henry than the sheer grace Jesmon was able to maintain while using nine blades to attack constantly was how Gankoomon was able to keep up with the blows. He only had his fists and Hinukamay, but he was matching his protégé blow for blow and seemingly unaffected by the clash. Henry could now see just how much the Royal Knight had been holding back in his skirmish. He was still calling out his attacks as he launched them- but since it seemed like he was landing a punch every instant, the syllables of his attacks were all running together to the point where even Henry who had seen them before couldn't identify what attacks he was using.
Even with the numerical disadvantage and Jesmon's numerous boosts, Gankoomon and Hinukamay eventually started pushing Jesmon back instead of just holding him off. Jesmon had gone from more of an attacking stance to a defensive one, but each time his guardian spirits came into contact with Hinukamay or Gankoomon's fists the three spirits seemed to waver slightly. By this time, Gankoomon seemed to grow tired of calling his attacks and was starting to lecture Jesmon's copy, and he had pushed his way close enough to the others that they could make out the words Gankoomon was shouting. "And you call yourself a copy of Jesmon? You disgust me. Atho, René, and Por should be a reflection of your spirit. Jesmon and I may have somewhat different philosophies, but neither of us would ever waver from our chosen path! Hinukamay stands behind me as a representation of my fighting spirit, but what do your allies stand for? You don't deserve to be anything even associated with the Royal Knights!"
Gankoomon hadn't let up on his barrage of blows as he was talking, but he must have gotten carried away emotionally and left the tiniest of openings. Jesmon's copy wasted no time taking advantage of it, quickly stabbing both of his arm blades into Gankoomon's chest. The older Royal Knight coughed, but then started laughing. "You think this means anything? Just who the hell do you think I am? Now you can't avoid my attack!" At his words, Hinukamay suddenly reached his hand through Gankoomon's body and into Jesmon's chest, grabbing whatever passed for a DigiCore in an artificial Digimon. It then started pulling backwards, taking a glowing outline of the fake Royal Knight with it. Jesmon's body struggled to get away, but Gankoomon grabbed on to his swords and held him close. He then shouted to the others gathered around watching his struggle.
"Hurry up and destroy this pathetic excuse for a Royal Knight! His replica soul may pale in comparison to the real thing, but I cannot guarantee I will be able to hold it for long to keep his OS Generics at bay. And I sealed my own fate when I started this attack- so do not hold back for my sake! Destroy us both!" The suddenness of the request took Henry and Ryo by surprise, but HolyAngemon immediately began charging his Sin Harvest. The leader of the Server Continent had more experience watching his allies sacrifice themselves than the two Tamers did, and he also had an unfortunate familiarity with the need to make difficult decisions for the greater good. He didn't doubt that the two Tamers would eventually do what needed to be done, but by the time they had overcome the initial shock the Sin Harvest had detonated. Gankoomon faded away along with the copy of his protégé, who was no longer protected by the OS Generics and thus wasn't able to survive this time around. However, before HolyAngemon, Ryo, and Henry could even process that the battle was over, Mask's Square shattered, and the disorientation of the spatial shift drove away further thoughts of the two Royal Knights…
Bukamon managed to pull himself off of the ground and briefly wondered where he was before the rainbow-colored sky reminded him of the ongoing battle. From there, the memories flashed back to him quickly- from Vikemon's death, to his plan to piss off Magnamon into revealing his weakness, to when he had pushed the Royal Knight a little too far. He didn't think he had gotten even close to making the Royal Knight lose control, but he had gone from using augmented punches and kicks to unleashing a single blast of golden energy. At first, he hadn't been too worried, since the blast was slow moving. However, just like the Royal Knight, the attack had a nightmarishly persistent homing ability, and as soon as it DID hit Aegisdramon it burned through his armor without any resistance.
Since that was the last thing Bukamon could remember, he assumed the attack had knocked him out, and then someone must have healed him since he was still here and not loose data in the wind. A sudden flood of energy brought him back up to Plesiomon, which at least let him know that Joe was still okay. Now that he wasn't busy trying to hide on the battlefield for his own safety, the Mega level could devote more attention to his surroundings. It didn't take long to notice the massive golden glow coming off of Magnamon, or the figure in black armor with two volcanoes bursting out of his back. PileVolcamon seemed to be using the heat of his volcanoes to propel himself forward and put even more force behind his punches. Magnamon reacted to the blows about as much as he had to anything Aegisdramon had thrown at him- meaning he just stood there as the attacks bounced off of him.
Plesiomon wanted to help his friend in the fight, but the simple fact of the matter was he was a poor partner for the former guardian of Mihirashi Mountain. PileVolcamon was clearly a close-range fighter, and Plesiomon's attacks were a little difficult to focus on a narrow area. His Shaking Pulse would throw off his ally just as much as his opponent, and even though he had gotten much better at targeting his Sorrow Blue by binding it to a blast of water, anything involving blasting water towards a fire-based ally was a clear recipe for disaster. Since he had next to no close-range prowess to speak of, there wasn't a whole lot he could do in this fight, but he still started flying over anyway. There wasn't an opening to attack now, but in the middle of a battle things tended to change quickly.
As he flew closer to the Royal Knight and the volcanic wrestler, Plesiomon noticed Magnamon wasn't the only one unnaturally calm in the current exchange of blows. From how often PileVolcamon was punching the Royal Knight, Plesiomon expected him to be almost as crazy as he had been back when he was affected by the Black Gear. With how Magnamon was just ignoring the Android Digimon's fists, a little bit of anger or fear would have also been appropriate responses. Instead, PileVolcamon was completely silent and his face betrayed no emotion. Plesiomon knew something would have to give eventually, but he wasn't expecting the change to be PileVolcamon suddenly smirking and springing back from the Royal Knight. He then jumped into the air, curled into a ball, and called out, "Volcanic Driver!"
Plesiomon was expecting something impressive from PileVolcamon's reaction, but the attack still managed to surprise him. Instead of directly attacking the Royal Knight, the Mega level drilled directly downwards into the earth. A second later, a pillar of lava burst up below Magnamon, taking the ground he was standing on with it. Plesiomon was impressed- from how difficult it was to make the Royal Knight change position, PileVolcamon had forced the opponent to leave the ground. However, the Android Digimon wasn't done quite yet. His Volcanic Driver created multiple other lava plumes in the area, and the wrestler used a more concentrated stream to blast himself up to Magnamon's level. He hit the Royal Knight with a move resembling a clothesline, which served to knock the Royal Knight out of an upright position. PileVolcamon then used the volcanos on his back to redirect his momentum and collide with Magnamon again, this time trapping the knight's limbs to his body with a bear hug.
The end result of this was Magnamon was trapped in PileVolcamon's hold, and the two were quickly plummeting towards the ground. Plesiomon watched as the extreme variant of a piledriver started to develop, but despite the obvious inspiration for the move PileVolcamon called out a non-indicative name: "Falcon Drop!" The Plesiosaur Digimon was sure Magnamon could easily escape from such a move, yet the Royal Knight didn't seem to particularly care that his head was on a volcano-powered crash course with the ground. He didn't make a move, even as PileVolcamon finished his attack. The Mega level bounced away from the force of impact and clearly had taken some damage, but since Magnamon had been driven into the ground head first and was now buried in partially melted rock to his waist, he felt confident that he had come out of the exchange for the better.
However, just when PileVolcamon was celebrating getting his first major hit against the Royal Knight, Magnamon finally retaliated. Without even bothering to pull himself out of the ground, he unleashed a more contained version of his Extreme Jihad attack. The outburst of golden energy ripped through stone as easily as it did air, leaving the Royal Knight floating upside down over a new crater of his own creation. Seeing the radius of the blast, Magnamon paused to take a few deep breaths. He really needed to learn to keep his anger under control if the size of the attack reached its current level after just one hit. Once he had calmed down, he glanced to where PileVolcamon had been- only to see a large skid mark that ended with a dazed Meramon. The Champion level must have been inexperienced with his Mega form to lose it so easily, but now that the Flame Digimon had reverted he was a non-factor in this battle. Still, the fact that such a novice had managed to hit him hard enough that he actually felt it just proved he couldn't afford to let his enemies keep the initiative for this long.
Plesiomon gulped as the Royal Knight turned towards him, wondering what exactly he could do now that he wasn't in Burst Mode against an enemy that had already shaken off everything he, Vikemon, and PileVolcamon had thrown at him. However, the moment of panic quickly passed as the Mega level realized he was starting to fall for Magnamon's psychological warfare again. He had already decided he was outmatched and needed to stall until someone with a way to beat Magnamon came along- whether it was due to sheer power like Omegamon or some other hidden ability that would work in this situation. Suddenly, Plesiomon realized exactly what he was about to say and would have slapped himself in the face if his flippers could reach- he had already been planning on using his Sorrow Blue attack as soon as PileVolcamon had some distance between him and the Royal Knight, and Meramon was now well out of the attack radius.
Magnamon hadn't bothered turning himself upright, and was just floating upside down staring at Plesiomon with his arms crossed. It was like the Royal Knight was asking to be attacked- and Plesiomon didn't want to disappoint him. He launched a stream of water at the golden knight- but the slight instability in the flow proved it wasn't a typical water blast. Upon impact with Magnamon, the stream burst to release the soundwaves from Sorrow Blue that were designed to sap the will of anyone who heard it. On Magnamon, it served to eliminate the golden aura surrounding him and send the knight falling to the ground as he no longer put any energy into keeping himself aloft. Plesiomon thought he may have found a way to win this fight, but just before Magnamon hit the ground again his aura flared back and he stopped falling. Clearly there was a limit to Sorrow Blue's effectiveness, but Plesiomon was willing to see how often he could blast the Royal Knight to earn a second or two of peace. Unfortunately for him, Magnamon wasn't about to give him that chance. Instead of using his usual deliberate pace, he went at full speed and flew at the Plesiosaur Digimon. The Mega level didn't have time to react until Magnamon's foot connected with his face- and the resulting explosion of miracle energy reduced Plesiomon to stray data.
Author's Note: With this, we add three more fatalities to the ranks of the DigiDestined. GigaSeadramon was probably lucky to survive as long as he did, but Plesiomon had the misfortune of facing Magnamon. There aren't many ways to beat an opponent that is the physical embodiment of miracles. Rosemon at least got to take Leopardmon out with her- her final attack is an homage to what Kurama pulled off against Elder Toguro in YuYu Hakusho and is a pretty nasty piece of work. Never underestimate someone with power over plant life.
We also lost the one Royal Knight who was completely brought to our side- again in a kamikaze fashion to take out a different Royal Knight. Gankoomon took a leaf out of the Third Hokage's book with the spirit sealing technique.
I know Mask's Square didn't break in two of these three sections, but with so much going on at once I have to cut back and forth in time. Rosemon died shortly before Mask's Square was destroyed so there weren't any witnesses- and had I not cut away with Plesiomon's death, Mask's Square would have broken at the start of the next paragraph. I thought this was a better ending spot.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and I look forward to hearing from you!