Hello!

I am soooooooooooo sorry for this long delay, holiday finished and a whole week of exams followed; everyday was packed full with exams of every single subject. These were quite important so I had to force myself to (unsuccessfully) revise, well, now that's over, I can finally relax a bit and concentrate on my fanfic again.

Hope you enjoy it.


Chapter 28: Chaos of the Lake

"No way, we can't fight like this, we need to get away!" T.K. looked between the enemies and the nearby shore; it wasn't that far to swim to, but still…

A ring of ghostly blue flames burnt and surrounded their position, great, now it is going to be even harder.

"You need to digivolve!" Sora cried out to the digimons, in their current situation, they will be killed in less than a minute!

"We…we can't… we can't digivolve!"

That headache inducing song… that must be why, T.K. stared alarmingly at that one creature, floating in midair as it emitted wave after wave of sonic energy. "We need to make a run for it! We need to go, quickly!"

"Go! Now! I will cover your backs!" Stingmon flew in between the children and the three enemies, they hesitated, this was no easy task, "Quickly! Go!"

T.K. took a deep breath and dived in first, the others quickly followed.

Bad choice.

The surface of the water exploded into a blaze of dancing flames, it would be impossible to get back out again.

At least they didn't get burnt to death; that was all too close.

"Diamond Storm!"

What was that? T.K. and Patamon turned around to look, but they couldn't wait, every second of air was precious right now.

Hundreds of shapes can be made out in the water, their elongated, whip like bodies waved around in the current like some kind of demonic seaweed, the claws on ends of the tentacles hungrily snapped open and shut, ready to rip apart anything unfortunate enough to be caught by their grasp.

Renamon ran on top of the water as if it was solid ground, she focused and quickly dodged every burst of flame or ambushing claw that got into her way. Distraction is all she needs, even if just a little.

The distance between her and the three of them closed, two robed beings flew in front of the third, who was still singing its ghastly melody.

"NOW!" Renamon yelled out as Mikemon appeared behind her, "Power Paw!" her fists and paws engulfed in flames, Renamon jumped up and waved her limps around at the enemies to open up any ground. Mikemon swung from Renamon's shoulder on her arm, "I'm ready!"

"Tear a hole in them!" Renamon grabbed Mikemon by her ankle and threw her head first at the last robed enemy like a cannon ball.

"NEKO CLAW!"

Mikemon flew towards the floating creature with what seemed like the speed of sound. She dashed past the enemy like a stream of razor sharp wind before landing in the water with a soft splash, disappearing into the currents.

Sora, Ken and T.K. watched helplessly as Stingmon worked as fast as he could, destroying any claw getting close at them. Just as everyone was beginning to run out of breath, the flames on the water quenched. Everyone floated back up to the surface and gasped for breath, the song stopped!

One of the three robed creature fell from the sky at which it was levitating, three huge gashes tore apart the left side of its chest, but it was not dead yet.

"Quickly! Digivolve now!" Sora and T.K. did not even hesitate when they whipped out their digi-vices and shouted.

Patamon digivolve to…

Biyomon digivolve to…

Angemon!

Birdramon!

"It's Mikemon!" Angemon looked excitedly towards the direction of their unexpected reinforcements, "She said she would bring help!"

"Should we retreat first or should we counter attack?" Ken asked decisively.

"We can't just leave them two there!" T.K. and Angemon gave the others a quick nod before flying off, T.K. held onto Angemon's back and grasped his shoulder tightly before fixing his eyes on the three enemies as they quickly reassembled.

"Angemon, attack them! Let's see how they fight!"

"They've played us long enough, let's make them pay!" Birdramon and Stingmon immediately followed behind them, their partners both riding on their backs and watched as their distance closed bit by bit. Time to attack…

"Wing Meteor!"

"Heaven's Fist!"

The three enemies ignored Renamon and Mikemon before quickly reassembling before the on-coming attack. The three of them floated one above another in a triangular formation before quickly forming an energy shield to deflect the attack, the fire ball and streak of light harmlessly bounced against their force field before disappearing into nothing.

"What should we do?" T.K. turned to his friends, this attack was not going to work, and getting into melee range doesn't seem to be a good idea either…

"Watch out!" Angemon quickly shouted out before manoeuvring left and right in the air to avoid being caught by the countless claws extended at them, the sudden and violent thrashing so nearly threw T.K. off to certain death.

With a wave of the one of the creature's black sleeve, droplets of a mysterious blue liquid flew their way before combusting into large clusters of flames midair; these deadly obstacles were enough to cause the three to change their flying cause.

"Urgh! Damn it! We can't get anywhere near them!" Ken shouted in between desperate struggles of holding onto Stingmon's back, "I can't keep this up for much longer! We need a plan!"

"What… What? What's this?" The triangle formed in between the three creatures let out a prismatic flash, the pattern spun around faster and faster as it glowed ominously…

"They are charging for an attack! Get away!" Sora held onto Birdramon tighter before all of them flew away as fast as they could; the light was getting so bright she had to cover her eyes to avoid being temporarily blinded…

Until a rain of razor sharp crystal shards hailed down upon the creatures and totally interrupted their attack…

The creatures turned and stared at Renamon behind their hoods with unspoken menace, that interruption had irritated them!

"Angel Rod!"

"Fire Storm!"

"Spiking Strike!"

Stingmon, Angemon and Birdramon immediately took this opportunity to attack; they charged into the enemies fiercely and tore apart their ranks, effectively separating the three from each other.

"Great timing, guys!" T.K. yelled excitedly as he saw new hopes of winning this battle, "Keep this up! Don't let them reassemble!"

"Take them down! One at a time! Focus on the singing one!" Ken led Stingmon and the others to ready an assault for their first target.

The frenzy of battle took over all their senses; explosions and flashes of projectiles flew across the sky in a myriad of bright colours. Bullets and fireballs alike charged into the opponents, the results were either blocked or dodged. The digimons pushed their abilities to the limit, but their best, was not good enough…

The battle did not go well. Not for a second could they stay still without the risk of being burnt by the pyromancer and those constantly hunting claws always manage to force them to change their planned route. While hunting for the one that could not physically fight may have seemed easy, its agility and cunning skills of air manoeuvring made it almost impossible to hit.

Without Renamon's constant distraction of the enemies, perhaps the digi-destined wouldn't have even survived that long…

What was less than half an hour felt more like half a day.

"This… doesn't work…" Angemon said while panting heavily, the fatigue was becoming increasingly crushing, but he mustn't stop flying, "The difference between levels of power is just too great… it feels like fighting five Megas…"

The three enemies stopped attacking, they stopped in midair and looked at the digi-destined as if gloating about their victory, their combined attacks had pinned the children down with the ease of a game. The three of them regrouped and stood still, but they weren't doing nothing.

As sound waves of the sinister chorus once again echoed above the lake, the pyromancer lifted both his arms and released a flurry of tiny blue sparkles that began filling the surrounding air. Everyone recognised those, they were getting ready to combust! This battle could not possibly last much longer!

"Beep… beep…" T.K. looked down at his digi-vice, someone was coming.

Cody and Yolei! He grinned happily and looked at the other two, they have obviously both got the message too.

Buy them time! With a nod, the assaults began anew.

"Moon Shooter!"

"Talon Tear!"

Stingmon and Birdramon ferociously dived down onto the enemies with talons and claws and the ready, they missed, but that was only as expected.

"Do you now see the futility of your struggle?" They spoke, in the middle of battle, as if they didn't even care, "As you are now, you cannot hope to defeat us. Us, the very vessel and meaning of power, we will only ever grow-"

"Enough with your nonsense all ready! We have seen worse! We have seen far worse than you!" Anything… anything to buy them time! T.K. quickly searched through his head for anything he could say, "We will defeat you, we can do it!"

"Why do you think that?" Was the blunt reply.

"Huh? Why do I think that? Because… because we… we are more powerful than you!" T.K. tried to sound as confident as he could, "Just you wait and see, we will beat you! Like we did every time before with others of your kind!"

"And how do you think-"

SPLASH!

"Megaton Press!"

Ankylomon leaped out of the water and several meters into the air with a mighty fountain like burst, he rolled into a ball and crushed down onto the three creatures like an unstoppable boulder.

Countless black portals opened up behind one of the three creatures and out of them, burst forth a wave of strangling claws. They hurled through the air towards Ankylomon and struck about the living boulder.

Ankylomon's moment pushed him forth against many claws, but he could not withstand the unstopping barrage. These attacks that stopped his charge and knocked him into the water below, would otherwise have torn him to just as many pieces.

"Ankylomon!" Cody yelled worriedly from above atop Aquillamon, Ankylomon had sank into the lake and completely disappeared.

"Hang on, Cody. We are almost done!" Yolei almost had to hold onto him to prevent Cody jumping off after Ankylomon.

"Blast Rings!"

"Diamond Storm!"

While the one being was immobilised by the use of its portals, the other two were forced to separate to avoid damage from Renamon and Aquillamon's joint surprise attack. The sparks in the air slowly dissipated as they were cut from their power source, buying everyone precious time.

The dog fight was above to come to an end, everyone flew and encircled the three robed beings, the prelude to a almost suicidal final assault.

The battle had dragged on for too long, the three robed beings now focused on pure offensives. From around one of the beings, more black portals opened and aimlessly shot claws in all direction, a wriggling mass of black tentacles writing in midair, swinging to catch anything flying close. The digimons were forced to fly further away, but they carried on encircling the three enemies.

The pyromancer waved both of its arms to direct rings of spinning fire towards the flying digimons. The rings flew into the path of their flight and exploded into a burning static sphere. The water below sizzled and boiled as jets of steam shot up into the sky, threatening to knock any of the children off the back of their digimon. The sphere was not dissipating, instead, it was growing in size!Tthis had at last broken their path of flight.

Gurgh… Yolei cringed as the deathly melody finally reached their ears, this was it… it won't be long before they finally tire out.

"Megaton Press!"

Ankylomon attempted the same attack again, this time from directly below the three robed beings. He did not try to get jump any higher, rather, the lift off was his attack.

The three beings immediately stopped attacking and gathered in formation, creating a violet force field that faced Ankylomon head on.

Ankylomon yelled in pain as the contact electrocuted him all over, his attack alone could not hope to penetrate their defence, and was helplessly thrown back into the water once again.

"Aim for the crack in their shield!" Renamon shouted out her order from below on the lake surface, she hurled a curtain of deadly shrapnel towards where Ankylomon had struck against the three being's force field, forcing open a gap bit by bit.

They didn't have a choice now! They mustn't waste this opportunity Ankylomon had created for them! "Guys! Press on the attack NOW!" Yolei cried aloud on Aquillamon's back, this was the last chance! It is now or never!

The four digimons ceased their encircling and at once, dived straight towards their target at the centre from four different directions.

"Hand of Fate!"

"Meteor Wing!"

"Spiking Strike!"

"Grand Horn!"

The four digimons charged the enemies at once, their frustration and anger all accumulated into this one fatal barrage of chained attacks. This had to destroy them! Nothing could survive their combined wrath! Without sparing a second to think, their attacks rammed into the weak point of their energy shield, completely decimating both their weakened defences and the trapped beings inside.

As if a last ditch effort of a counterattack, the three bodies of the robed creatures exploded into a massive out-burst of smoke and dust; the shock waves blew every person that stood next to the bodies helplessly through the air before landing in the water with a loud splash.

It hurt… but it wasn't lethal.

After a long, prevailing silence…

"Ow…" Was the first sound everyone heard, it was Yolei floating across the surface of the water with Hawkmon, who was apparently out cold.

"Phew… we… we survived…" At least a bit of pain is better than death; T.K. held Patamon in one arm and looked around for everybody else. "Cody? Ken? Sora? Yolei? Are you alright?"

"We are… fine, slightly dazed, that's all."

Good, huh? T.K. heard someone walking towards them, he turned and saw the yellow fox that helped them during this fight, a soaked Mikemon was sitting on top of her shoulder, the sight seemed to immediately cheer up Patamon.

"Let me help you." Renamon extended a hand to T.K. and Ken, who took the hand and relaxed as Renamon pulled the two of them along with their digimon to the shore, "I will come back for the others later."

With the creatures gone, the very atmosphere seemed to feel more relaxed.

But what about the others? What had happened to them…?


Okay, as I said, I cannot apologise enough for this delay, I seemed to have met a writer's block while writing this out too. Bad combination…

Anyway, now I have finally done this, I can now resume writing at a faster pace. I hope you like it so far, I think a bit of a slower paced chapter may be coming this way.

Review please! Thank you! And no flaming!